GIFT  OF 

Leslie    Van  Ness   -Denrnan 


THE 

YOUNG    MALEFACTOR 

A  STUDY  IN  JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY 
ITS  CAUSES  AND  TREATMENT 

BY 

THOMAS  TRAVIS,  PH.D. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

THE  HONORABLE  BEN  B.  LINDSEY 

JUDGE  OF  THE  DENVER  JUVENILE  COURT 


NEW  YORK 

THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  CO. 
PUBLISHERS 


I<? HJ,  d^Wi*      • 

BY  i*ri^«iAS»V«*CROWHS,i.«<k  Co. 


GIFT  OP 


CONTENTS 


FAGB 

INTRODUCTION  BY  JUDGE  BEN  B.  LINDSEY     .     .       ix 
PREFACE xxiii 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE     YOUNG      MALEFACTOR     IN      THE 
INSTITUTION   AND   AT   HOME. 

A:  IN  THE  INSTITUTION:  Definitions  —  Elmira  and 
the  physical  condition  of  its  inmates  —  Caldwell, 
Rahway,  and  the  House  of  Refuge  inmates  — 
Hrdlicka  and  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  —  The 
physical  inferiority  of  the  juvenile  —  The  rarity 
of  the  natural  criminal  —  The  Italian  theory  —  And 
American  data  —  The  ten-year-old  mother  —  The 
intellect  of  the  young  malefactor  —  Morality  and 
culture  —  Insane  morality  —  Sex  immorality  in  a 
child  —  Illiteracy  —  The  offences  of  the  juvenile  — 
Instruction  in  prostitution  —  Data  of  prostitution  — 
A  child  murderer  —  Recapitulation  ......  1 

B:  AT  HOME  :  Economic  status  of  the  home — The 
garbage  eater  —  Poverty  and  prostitution  —  The 
wages  of  harlotry  —  The  harlot  mother  —  The  slum 
and  its  victims  —  Immoral  and  cruel  parents  —  The 
school  of  the  malefactor  —  The  borderlander's  home 
—  Summary .  33 


M1G38S4 


vi  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   CHILD    BORN   CENTURIES   TOO 
LATE. 

PAGE 

A:  THE  CLAIM  OF  THE  ITALIAN  SCHOOL:  History 
of  the  stigmata  theory,  in  Buddhism,  Confucianism, 
Arabia,  Hebrew  literature,  Greek  sources,  Later 
Greek  schools,  Socrates  to  Darwin,  Lombroso  — 
Summary  of  the  Italian  claim  —  The  physical  appear- 
ance of  the  born  criminal  —  The  test,  on  old  offen- 
ders, on  the  juvenile  —  The  physical  appearance 
of  insanity  —  Particular  anomalies  —  Stigmata  are 
not  confined  to  the  criminal 53 

B:  Is  THE  CRIMINAL  INSANE?  Definitions  —  The  \ 
subtlety  of  the  insane  taint  —  Example  of  —  Like 
sources  of  crime  and  insanity  —  Premeditation  and 
plot  —  Physical  and  moral  insensibility  —  The  pro- 
fessional criminal's  view-point  —  The  criminal  and 
the  savage  —  The  stranglers  —  Barbarism  and  in- 
fancy —  Likeness  and  identity  —  The  child  born 
centuries  too  late 84 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE     OCTOPUS    WHOSE    ARMS     REACH 
EVERYWHERE. 

The  complexity  of  causation  —  Heredity,  will,  and 
environment 100 

Physical  causes  —  Geography  —  The  moonshiner  — 
Feuds  —  Climate  —  Temperature 103 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE 

Social   causes  —  Social    progress  —  Social   machinery 

—  The  waste   product  in  men  —  Defective   correc- 
tional institutions  —  The  manufacture  of  criminals 

—  Police  courts  —  Jails  breeders  of  crime  —  Prisons 
in  Russia,  Spain,  Morocco,  France,  Italy,  Belgium, 
America  —  Petitioning  for  a  berth  in   prison  —  In 
the  dungeon  —  Definite  terms  —  The  poorhouse  child 

—  The     beggarman  —  Reformatories  —  Politics  — 
The  task  of  the  school —  Immigration  — Absorption 

or  extinction 106 

Economic  causes  —  Crises  —  Competition  —  The  Chi- 
cago attempt  —  Trades  unions  and  the  beggar  — 
Brawn  —  Centralization  —  The  crime  syndicate  — 
Poverty's  legacy  —  Child  labor  —  Tramps  ....  126 

Dispositional  causes  —  Lawlessness  —  Idleness  — 
The  gang  —  Immaturity — Abnormal  disposition  — 
Subtle  insanity  —  The  born  criminal 140 

Physiological  causes  —  Puberty,  Sex,  Youth,  Ab- 
normal physiology,  The  deformed,  Disease,  Hypno- 
tism, Somnambulism,  Bad  heredity 147 

Individual  causes  —  Intoxicants,  Tobacco,  Sex,  Associ- 
ates, Literature,  Theatres,  Loafers,  and  their 
replies 154 

Family  causes  —  The  deficient  home,  The  non  or  semi- 
functionary  home,  The  borderlander  —  Emphasized 
idiosyncrasies  —  Too  many  children  —  The  vicious 
home  —  Conclusions 167 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   IV. 
WHAT  IS   TO  BE  DONE? 

PAGI 

TREATMENT  :  Historical  treatment  of  the  young  offen- 
der —  Continental  conditions  —  Death  for  five  cents 
worth  of  paint  —  The  Russian  girl  murderer  —  The 
modern  period  —  The  three  brothers  —  Upward 
steps  —  Types  of  institutions  —  The  passing  of 
the  institution  idea  —  Institutionalization  and  brand- 
ing —  The  search  for  a  natural  institution  —  The 
lost  —  The  sphere  of  the  institution  —  Making  chil- 
dren over  —  Civic  betterment  —  The  rise  of  the 
foster  home  —  Australian  methods  —  British  plans 
—  German  solutions  —  The  advantages  and  defects 
of  the  foster  home  —  The  legal  evolution  —  The 
State  father  —  The  juvenile  court  —  What  is  to  be 
done 184 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 233 

INDEX 237 

APPENDIX. 

PHOTOS  AND  SKETCHES  AMONG  THE  INSANE  AND  UN- 
DER-DEVELOPED. 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  HONORABLE  BEN  B.  LINDSEY 

THE  growth  of  the  juvenile  or  children's  courts, 
in  the  last  seven  years,  not  only  emphasizes  the 
importance  of  the  subject  of  juvenile  delinquency, 
but  the  necessity  for  a  better  understanding  con- 
cerning it.  The  unquestioned  increase  in  crime  in 
this  country  is  also  one  of  the  powerful  facts  com- 
manding for  this  subject  the  attention  it  deserves. 
It  was  therefore  with  the  greatest  interest  that  I 
read  the  manuscript  for  the  present  book.  In  it 
Dr.  Travis  has  shown  exceptional  qualifications  to 
deal  with  the  subject. 

I  have  frequently  said  that  there  should  be  some 
kind  of  course  provided  in  some  of  the  schools  for 
the  training  of  those  who  deal  with  delinquent  and 
dependent  children,  since  an  army  of  such  workers 
is  growing  up  in  this  country,  to  keep  pace  with 
the  probation  system  which  has  greatly  developed' 
through  the  juvenile  court.  There  is  nothing  more 
important,  therefore,  than  proper  literature  dealing 
with  the  subject.  Heretofore  most  of  this  litera- 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

ture  has  been  found  only  in  reports,  pamphlets,  and 
occasional  addresses ;  and  while  there  are  one  or 
two  publications  more  elaborate,  such  as  that  of 
Morrison,  they  are  now  out  of  date  and  not  well 
suited  to  the  real,  practical  needs  of  present-day 
problems. 

Juvenile  delinquency  pertains  to  all  children, 
for  all  children  are  delinquent  at  some  time  or 
other.  Indeed,  in  present  day  definitions,  delin- 
quency may  be  better  described  as  a  state,  condi- 
tion, or  environment  into  which  the  child  enters, 
and  which  if  continued  may  result  in  such  acts  or 
habits  in  the  child  as  eventually  to  make  of  it  a 
criminal.  Since  at  least  ninety-five  per  cent  of 
children  who  are  dealt  with  as  delinquents  are  no 
different  from  the  average  child  but  are  such 
because  their  environment  is  different,  to  deal  with 
the  subject  of  delinquency  we  must  necessarily  deal 
with  a  great  many  other  subjects  which  pertain  to 
the  causes  of  delinquency.  Indeed,  in  my  own 
experience  I  can  not  escape  being  led  into  every 
social,  economic,  political,  and  educational  condi- 
tion that  concerns  the  state,  which  only  emphasizes 
the  truth  that  the  child  is  the  state  and  the  state 
is  the  child.  If  the  causes  of  delinquency  are  ever 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

to  be  fully  explained  and  understood,  then  we  must 
add  so  many  other  subjects  which  are  responsible 
for  its  strength  or  weakness,  that  it  is  easy  to  see 
why  the  domain  into  which  we  are  led  is  almost 
limitless. 

This  splendid  volume  by  Dr.  Travis  shows  that 
its  author  is  keenly  alive  to  this  fact.  It  is  a  sub- 
ject easily  involved  in  profusion  unless  a  limit  be 
placed  somewhere,  and  the  most  important  subjects 
pertaining  to  delinquency  be  included  in  a  volume 
neither  too  heavy  and  scientific  for  the  average 
reader  nor  so  hastily  arranged  as  not  to  be  entitled 
to  the  attention  or  be  of  value  to  the  specialist. 
Dr.  Travis  has  succeeded  in  producing  an  admir- 
able work  that  is  of  value  to  all  and  at  once  con- 
cise, scholarly,  practical,  and  instructive.  We  have 
been  very  much  in  need  of  an  intelligent  classifica- 
tion and  arrangement  under  which  we  could  more 
readily  identify  and  know  how  to  deal  more  directly 
with  the  individual  offender.  Indeed,  there  is  a 
dearth  of  practical  and  useful  literature  upon  the 
subject.  For  this  reason  after  reading  the  excellent 
papers  embodied  in  this  volume,  I  rejoice  to  wel- 
come it  with  enthusiasm. 

We  get  nowhere  at  all  if  our  idea  of  delinquents 


xii  INTB  OD  UCTIO  N. 

or  criminals  comes  from  the  mere  definition  of  these 
terms  in  statutes,  because,  if  we  stop  there,  we  are 
all  delinquents  and  criminals  at  some  period.  If 
a  hundred  average  school  boys  could,  under  the 
same  condition,  be  subjected  to  precisely  the  same 
temptation  faced  by  the  boy  who  took  the  pocket- 
book  from  his  neighbor's  kitchen  when  he  believed 
no  one  saw  his  act  and  that  he  would  not  be 
detected,  only  God  knows  how  many  out  of  the 
hundred  would  not  have  acted  in  precisely  the  same 
way.  It  depends  largely  upon  how  strong  and  how 
weak  they  were,  and  this  in  turn  might  depend 
upon  such  multifarious  causes  that  the  same  reason 
would  not  necessarily  account  in  any  two  cases  for 
the  same  act,  even  though  half  of  these  boys  suc- 
cumbed to  the  temptation.  And  yet  at  bottom  it 
was  the  temptation  which  put  in  action  the  moral 
weakness,  whatever  may  have  been  the  form  of 
the  force  thus  caused  which  resulted  in  the  par- 
ticular act.  There  are  many  things  in  a  case  like 
this  which  need  to  be  understood. 

In  one  of  the  first  cases  I  ever  tried  involving  a 
boy,  the  district  attorney  told  me  it  would  take 
only  five  minutes.  He  meant,  of  course,  that  it 
would  take  five  minutes  to  determine  whether  the 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

boy  did  a  thing  that  by  the  definitions  of  law  con- 
stituted him  a  thief.  I  have  really  been  five  years 
in  trying  that  case,  and  have  not  finished  it  yet. 
But  had  there  been  more  books  like  this  of  Dr. 
Travis's,  at  the  time  the  case  came  up,  instead  of 
merely  the  statutes  and  books  on  criminal  law  sur- 
rounding me,  perhaps  I  might  have  completed  it  by 
now ;  I  might  at  least  have  begun  to  understand  it. 
It  is  a  sad  thing,  for  instance,  that  much  more 
than  half  the  children  brought  to  courts  will  lie  to 
the  judge  and  the  officers  under  the  former  methods 
of  trial,  unless  they  are  sure  they  have  been  found 
out  and  the  evidence  is  at  hand.  Under  old 
methods  of  misunderstanding,  or  no  understanding, 
the  boy  persisted  in  his  lie  and  only  insisted  as  a 
rule  more  emphatically  when  doubted  and  ques- 
tioned. There  are  many  reasons  why  the  boy  did 
this  ;  and  all  of  the  reasons  must  be  removed  before 
it  is  fair  as  a  rule  to  expect  him  to  tell  the  truth. 
Unusual  cases  of  strong  character  development  in 
the  home  will  of  course  prove  exceptions,  but  I 
refer  to  the  average  boy  or  girl  in  court.  I  know 
the  cases  of  several  thousand  boys  thus  lying  to 
officers.  They  would  have  lied  with  equal  readi- 
ness to  the  judge,  had  they  been,  unintentionally, 


XIV  INTEODUCTION. 

encouraged  in  it,  as  they  were  by  every  condition 
that  confronted  them.  But  by  an  entirely  different 
and  yet  natural  method  all  of  these  boys  were 
induced  to  tell  the  truth. 

I  sat  in  a  court  recently  with  a  good  judge  who 
may  have  known  much  about  delinquency,  but 
little  about  the  causes  thereof.  Every  one  of  the 
six  or  seven  boys  tried  before  him  lied.  The  judge 
quietly  decided  the  cases  against  them,  apparently 
taking  the  lie  as  a  matter  of  course.  Here  occurred 
one  complication  in  the  case  that  made  its  trial  add 
to  it  a  feature  as  serious  as  the  charge  that  had 
made  of  it  a  case.  But  no  one  seemed  to  know 
or  understand.  The  judge  was  somewhat  amazed 
to  find  these  boys  within  an  hour  afterwards  telling 
the  absolute  truth.  Not  as  a  boast,  but  merely  as 
illustrating  how  we  have  been  helped  to  understand 
more  about  delinquency,  and  as  a  defence  of  the  so- 
called  delinquent,  in  pleading  merely  for  justice  for 
him,  I  think  we  can  say  in  our  court  in  Denver 
that  not  one  boy  out  of  five  hundred  in  cases  like 
those  referred  to  has  lied,  after  we  have  employed 
the  right  method  of  getting  the  truth.  Until  we 
have  done  this  much  we  have  not  been  just,  but 
instead  have  helped  to  make  a  liar  in  addition, 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

perhaps,  to  a  thief ;  we  have  done  harm  instead  of 
good  when  it  was  of  course  not  intended. 

What  is  needed  in  dealing  with  the  so-called 
juvenile  delinquent,  and  in  the  problem  of  so-called 
crime,  is  more  knowledge,  more  understanding. 
This  must  pertain  to  human  beings  and  those 
functions  responsible  for  human  beings,  rather 
than  the  mere  things  they  do.  There  are  absurd- 
ities enough  in  the  trials  of  men,  but  there  have 
been  even  more  in  the  trials  of  juveniles.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  things  about  a  case  I  once 
tried  was  the  fact  that  the  boy  hated  the  policeman 
and  the  policeman's  actions  were  those  of  hate  for 
the  boy,  but  neither  knew  or  understood  why.  The 
boy  at  the  head  of  the  gang  at  the  sight  of  the 
policeman  knew  when  to  yell  "  jigger  the  bull." 
There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  the  statutes  or  law 
books  about  "  jigger  the  bull."  The  judge  was  to 
determine  only  whether  the  boy  took  the  grain  from 
the  box  car.  But  in  time  the  judge  will  learn  more 
about  the  case  from  perhaps  that  one  question 
alone :  Why  the  boy  said,  "  jigger  the  bull."  The 
officer  who  deals  successfully  with  delinquency  (and 
this  includes  parents  and  teachers)  must  know  the 
whys  and  wherefores  of  the  conduct  of  human 


XVI  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

beings.  This  he  will  not  find  in  laws.  These  are 
designed  rather  to  regulate  and  deal  with  the 
effects  of  this  conduct. 

The  mistake  has  been  that  limitations  have  been 
put  upon  intelligence  and  therefore  justice,  by  a 
code  designed  merely  to  describe  and  regulate  con- 
duct, affording  no  play  whatever  for  the  use  of 
that  wisdom  and  discretion  which  only  comes  from 
a  knowledge  of  men  and  those  causes  that  make 
or  unmake  them.  The  result  is,  our  criminal  law 
system  is  so  stuffed  with  injustice  that  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  its  contributions  to  injustice  have  not  been 
greater  than  to  justice.  I  say  unhesitatingly  that 
it  has  been  positively  so  in  dealing  with  the  juven- 
ile offender. 

In  the  past  we  have  been  brutally  ignorant  upon 
the  subject.  But  from  the  hanging  of  boys  in  Eng- 
land for  larceny  to  the  treating  of  the  same  sort  of  a 
delinquent  as  a  person  "  misdirected,  misguided,  and 
needing  aid,  help,  assistance,  and  encouragement" 
(as  declared  in  our  Colorado  juvenile  delinquency 
act),  is  a  long  step  in  advance,  even  if  it  measures 
a  hundred  years.  The  boy  whose  uncontrollable 
emotions,  for  which  he  is  often  no  more  responsible 
than  for  the  instinct  to  eat  or  sleep,  impelled  him 


IN  TRODUCTION.  X  Vll 

at  the  age  of  twelve  to  take  the  first  horse  and 
buggy  he  found  unattended  on  the  street  and  drive 
it  off,  was  hung  for  it  a  hundred  years  ago ;  within 
a  decade  he  was  charged,  treated,  and  convicted  as 
a  horse  thief ;  within  five  years  he  was  still  given 
into  the  tender  mercies  of  the  jailer;  but  to-day 
(except  in  a  few  states  yet  in  darkness)  he  is 
turned  over  to  the  trained  teacher  in  the  detention 
school,  and  frequently  by  her  in  turn  to  the  special- 
ist or  psychologist.  He  is  taken  to  this  moral  sani- 
tarium. Here  they  differentiate  between  stealing 
a  ride  and  stealing  a  horse,  or  stealing  at  all  —  in 
a  word,  where  they  are  learning  how  to  fight  the 
bad  thing  without  fighting  the  boy. 

Thus  we  have  begun  to  get  a  glimpse  of  how 
much  skill  is  required.  That  skill  is  coming.  It 
is  needed  in  the  home  and  the  school  —  why  not 
the  court  ?  It  has  been  lacking  because  we  have 
been  so  much  confused  as  to  the  real  things  we 
are  dealing  with,  the  real  things  we  must  know 
and  do,  in  order  to  administer  what  we  poor  foolish 
mortals  think  to  be  justice.  Of  course  there  must 
be  justice.  The  point  is  not  that  there  shall  not 
be,  but  that  there  shall  be  justice.  And  real  justice 
contemplates  love,  as  real  love  contemplates  justice. 


XVlll  INTRODUCTION. 

We  put  love  in  the  law  just  so  far  as  we  under- 
stand men  —  just  so  far  as  we  are  really  just  to  men. 
Certainly  the  best  time  to  understand  a  man  is 
when  he  is  a  boy.  A  man  is  not  made  all  at  once. 
Nature  does  not  do  things  that  way,  and  certainly 
what  nature  cannot  do  it  would  be  absurd  for  man 
to  undertake.  Mankind  in  the  making  offers  its 
most  favored  opportunities  when  character  is  plas- 
tic, when  nature  has  given  us  the  material  to  form, 
as  she  gives  the  clay  to  the  potter  ;  and  the  potter 
would  be  very  foolish  if  he  waited  until  the  mate- 
rial hardened  before  he  began  his  work.  Yet  this 
is  what  the  state  did  as  a  rule.  The  state  as  well 
as  the  home  and  the  school  must  do  its  part  in  the 
work  of  formation,  and  is  to  be  condemned  as  not 
only  foolish  but  criminal  if  it  undertakes  reforma- 
tion only  after  neglecting  all  of  its  opportunities 
for  formation.  We  all  suffer  for  crime  because  it 
is  a  reflection  upon  all  of  us,  a  reflection  upon  the 
state.  Just  as  in  the  average  home  when  its  boy 
is  convicted  of  crime,  there  is  suffering  in  the 
home  and  a  wound  for  the  parent,  so  the  thousands 
of  youth  in  this  country  drifting  into  crime  every 
year  means  suffering  for  us  all  and  wounds  for  the 
state. 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

While  any  child  may  be  and  at  some  period  is 
delinquent,  as  defined  by  the  statutes,  as  all  men 
are  sometimes  criminals,  yet  society  is  after  all,  in 
dealing  with  the  delinquent  and  the  criminal,  deal- 
ing with  the  exceptional.  This  need  not  be  mis- 
understood. Not  that  the  average  delinquent  boy 
in  court  is  exceptional  as  a  boy,  for  they  are  no 
more  so  than  the  mischievous  boy  to  whom  the 
school  principal  must  deal  with  at  exceptional 
times  for  the  occasional  mischief.  Indeed,  the  boy 
who  is  not  delinquent  at  times,  as  this  term  is  now 
defined  in  statutes,  is  so  exceptional  that  I  can  con- 
ceive of  none  that  would  be  more  abnormal  and 
give  us  more  occasion  for  concern.  What  we  are 
struggling  to  understand  is  that  child  whose  natural 
instincts  perhaps  are  so  much  misdirected  and  un- 
controllable as  to  draw  to  himself  our  attention  as 
one  in  whom  we  have  a  right  to  suspect  that  weak- 
ness which  in  time  will  classify  him  as  criminal. 
We  have  tried  to  develop  a  system  whereby  this 
individual  could  be  identified  as  he  is  gradually 
ground  out  from  that  system  which  seeks  to  sepa- 
rate him  for  special  treatment,  even  from  that 
great  number  of  so-called  delinquents  who  get  into 
courts  and  who  are  there  not  because  they  are 


XX  INTRODUCTION. 

inherently  materially  different  from  other  boys, 
but  because  their  environment  and  temptations 
were  different  and  indeed  frequently  because  they 
represent  merely  "  those  caught." 

Delinquency,  therefore,  may  indicate  an  un- 
usually healthy  and  normal  condition,  rather  than 
the  contrary.  So  that  in  intelligent  classification 
to  point  to  the  real  delinquency  that  requires  our 
especial  and  expert  care  and  attention  is  the 
important  object,  and  it  will  be  found,  therefore, 
that  it  is  only  the  exceptional  that  is  to  be  espe- 
cially dealt  with,  and  it  is  this  exceptional  delin- 
quency, the  forerunner  of  dangerous  citizenship, 
which  should  concern  us  most.  But  to  arrive  at 
this  we  must  study  delinquency  in  all  its  varied 
forms.  What  these  are,  why  they  exist,  what  they 
lead  to,  how  to  prevent  them,  or  how  to  overcome 
them,  to  gather  useful  and  reliable  facts  and 
theories,  to  collate  and  classify  them,  in  order  that 
they  may  point  as  unerringly  as  possible  to  the 
truth  we  seek,  that  we  may  strive  to  save  the 
individual  as  well  as  to  protect  society  —  all  this 
is  the  great  problem  involved  in  the  important 
subject  of  "  The  Young  Malefactor,"  or  "  Juvenile 
Delinquency,  its  Causes  and  Treatment." 


IN  TR  OD  UCTION.  XXI 

In  short,  Dr.  Travis  has  covered  this  field  in  an 
admirable  manner.  In  the  interest,  therefore,  of 
the  hundred  thousand  or  more  children  dealt  with 
in  the  courts  every  year,  as  well  as  all  the  children 
dealt  with  in  the  homes,  schools,  and  churches,  it 
is  my  hope  that  this  volume  will  be  found  in  the 
hands  not  only  of  probation  officers,  but  especially 
of  parents,  teachers,  and  pastors,  for  it  is  these 
after  all  —  rather  than  courts  —  who  deal  most 
with  juvenile  delinquents.  None  can  be  excepted 
from  those  who  ought  to  be  interested  in  the  most 
vital  subject  of  this  nation  —  this  divine  image,  the 
child.  May  this  book  do  the  good  I  believe  it  is 
destined  to  do,  and  may  it  have  the  success  it  so 
richly  merits ! 

BEN  B.  LINDSEY. 

DENVER,  DECEMBER  10,  1907. 


PEEFACE 

of  the  present  day  social  problems  is  that 
of  crime,  and  the  Italian  School  of  Criminologists 
has  done  much  to  further  its  solution.  Under  the 
leadership  of  Ferri  and  Lombroso,  the  theory  of 
evolution  was  applied  to  the  explication  of  the 
phenomena  of  criminality,  and  the  emphasis  was 
placed  on  the  atavistic  characteristics  of  the  of- 
fender. Malefactors  were  classified  and  this  school 
claimed  to  detect,  by  means  of  stigmata,  both  the 
criminal  and  the  type  of  crime  he  would  commit. 
So  strong  was  their  emphasis  on  the  "  bom  "  crim- 
inal that  many  were  led  to  believe  all  offenders 
usually  abnormal.  The  question  was  asked,  Is 
criminality  illness  or  crime  ?  ("  Krankheit  oder 
"Verbrechen.") 

On  the  other  hand  there  were  those  who  denied 
the  existence  of  stigmata  of  crime  or  criminality, 
who  did  not  recognize  any  relation  between  phy- 
sique and  crime,  and  who  made  no  classifications: 
all  offenders  were  alike  to  them.  Also  no  essen- 
(xxiii) 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

tial  difference  between  the  child  offender  and  the 
grown  criminal  was  seen. 

It  therefore  seemed  to  the  writer  that  there  was 
a  realm  between  the  opposing  schools  which  had 
not  been  investigated  with  sufficient  care.  Not 
enough  attention  had  been  given  to  define  exactly 
where  and  why  Lombroso  had  found  his  stigmata ; 
nor  why  the  few  anthropologists  who  had  examined 
the  juvenile  had  found  no  stigmata  of  crime  or 
type  in  the  kind  of  delinquent  they  examined. 

The  author  proposed  this  test.  He  would  begin 
with  the  ordinary  population  and  tabulate  care- 
fully how  these  stigmata  mentioned  by  the  Italian 
school  occurred.  He  would  then  do  the  same  with 
the  young  offender,  beginning  with  the  youngest 
and  mildest  and  advancing  to  the  older  and  more 
deeply  involved.  From  here  he  would  begin  with 
the  insane ;  and  then,  by  carefully  comparing  the 
number  and  manner  of  occurrence  of  stigmata,  he 
could  determine  whether  what  Lombroso  found 
true  of  Italian  criminals  was  true  of  all  offenders, 
young  and  old,  and  whether  the  stigmata  which 
Lombroso  said  were  characteristic  only  of  crime 
were  in  reality  found  also  among  the  insane  who 
were  not  also  criminal. 


PREFACE.  xxv 

Some  six  years  were  spent  in  theoretic  and  prac- 
tical study  under  Professors  Fisher  of  Wesleyan, 
Giddings  of  Columbia,  and  Johnson  of  New  York 
Universities.  Mr.  Mornay  Williams,  president  of 
New  York  Juvenile  Asylum,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Bar- 
rows, of  New  York  Prison  Association,  furnished 
letters  of  introduction  to  numerous  penal  institu- 
tions both  in  this  country  and  abroad.  These 
were  visited  and  access  to  government  documents, 
special  libraries,  and  retreats  for  the  insane  was  se- 
cured. Work  in  settlements,  institutional  churches 
with  clubs  for  children  as  well  as  connections  with 
juvenile  courts,  and  probation  work  and  institu- 
tions like  schools  for  backward  children  brought 
acquaintance  with  the  details  of  the  life  of  the 
child  who  gets  in  trouble  with  the  law. 

The  method  pursued  was  to  read  all  literature 
reasonably  accessible,  to  find  out  what  had  been 
done,  and  then  to  supplement  this  by  practical 
examination  of  hundreds  of  offenders  and  insane, 
as  well  as  normal  people.  The  juvenile  was  stud- 
ied also  with  respect  to  age,  sex,  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  equipment ;  economic  situation  ;  and  the 
condition  of  his  home ;  with  the  expectation  that 
thus  mapping  out  the  main  lines  of  his  life  he 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

could  be  more  clearly  understood  and  the  tests 
applied. 

The  stigmata  of  the  Italian  school  were  searched 
for  in  the  insane  and  in  the  delinquent.  The 
causes  of  crime  were  tabulated,  a  search  made  for 
a  principal  cause  and  the  literature  of  treatment 
arranged  to  form  a  brief  history  which  was  carried 
further  by  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in  practical 
work.  It  remained  only  to  put  these  results  in 
thesis  form. 

The  main  theses  which  this  paper  is  intended  to 
maintain  are  as  follows  : 

(1.)  A  study  of  the  delinquent  with  respect  to 
his  physical,  mental,  and  ethical  conditions  shows 
that  at  least  90  %  and  probably  98  %  of  first  court 
offenders  are  normal. 

(2.)  A  study  of  the  delinquent  with  respect  to 
his  economic  condition,  the  material  condition  of 
his  home,  his  condition  as  to  orphanage,  etc.,  the 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  conditions  of  his  parents 
confirms  the  above  thesis  and  shows  that  not  only 
all  the  normal  offences,  but  some  of  the  morbid  or 
abnormal  delinquencies,  are  the  product  of  his  envi- 
ronment. 

(3.)     Of  the  remaining  two  to  ten  per  cent,  of 


PREFACE.  XXVll 

first  court  offenders,  some  are  insane,  others  morbid, 
and  some  few  perhaps  atavistic  and  might  be  called 
in  a  rnetaphoric  sense  "  born  criminals." 

(4.)  The  stigmata  theory  of  the  Italian  School 
applies  only  to  a  more  limited  realm  than  they 
claim. 

(5.)  There  are  no  stigmata  of  either  crime  or 
types  of  crime,  but  only  of  abnormality  or  degen- 
eracy. 

(6.)  The  causes  of  delinquency  are  many  and 
spring  from  every  department  of  life,  but  they  focus 
in  such  a  way  that  we  may  name  the  non  or  semi- 
functionary  home  as  the  chief  cause. 

(7.)  The  treatment  of  the  normal  delinquent 
should  be  primarily  the  influence  of  strong  person- 
ality exerted  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  home,  natural 
or  foster. 

(8.)  The  abnormal  delinquent  should  be  subject 
to  special  treatment  and  isolation  until  cured,  or 
until  he  is  eliminated. 

Little  claim  to  the  discovery  of  new  facts  is 
made,  that  of  the  almond  nostril  being  perhaps  the 
only  one.  Whatever  contribution  is  made  is  rather 
the  clearer  definition  of  the  realm  between  the 
opposing  schools  ;  the  clearer  definition  of  the  area 


xx  vm  PREFACE. 

to  which  stigmata  may  be  applied ;  the  gathering  of 
more  definite  statistics  at  several  points ;  the  com- 
parison of  the  stigmata  of  insanity  with  those  of 
crime ;  the  classification  of  types  of  juvenile  delin- 
quents ;  the  focusing  of  the  causes  of  delinquency ; 
the  arrangement  of  scattered  literature  of  treatment 
in  such  a  way  as  to  show  its  trend ;  and  the  appli- 
cation of  the  science  of  orthodontology  and  kindred 
sciences  to  the  treatment  of  delinquents  having 
malformed  heads. 

T.  T. 

MONTCLAIH,  N.J.,  JANUARY  1,  1908. 


THE 

YOUNG    MALEFAOTOE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR  IN  THE  INSTITUTION 
AND   AT   HOME. 

THE  term  "  juvenile   delinquent "  is  applied 
by  law  to  any  person  under  sixteen  who  corn- 
Definition   of    the  mits  any  offence  for  which   he 

term  "  juvenile  delin- 
quent." is    brought    before    the    courts. 

Legally,  it  also  includes  all  under  sixteen  who 
by  reason  of  destitution  or  neglect  are  in  grave 
danger  of  committing  such  offence.  By  loose 
usage  and  in  an  extra  legal  sense,  the  term  has 
come  to  include  all  court  offenders  who  are  not 
full-grown  men  and  women.  The  juvenile, 
therefore,  is  a  criminal  in  the  general  sense  of 
the  term,  but  the  courts  have  found  out  that 
they  cannot  consider  or  treat  him  as  such. 


"T&E  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


In  tracing  the  young  malefactor  through  his 
limited  world  the  present  chapter  should  show 
not  only  that  at  least  90%  and  probably  98%  of 
first  court  offenders  are  normal  children,  not 
more  than  one  or  two  per  cent  being  criminal 
by  nature,  but  also  the  nature  of  the  delinquent 
child  and  the  reason  for  the  courts'  attitude. 
Let  us  then  begin  with  the  older  delinquent 
behind  the  bars  and  follow  him  backwards  to 
his  infancy  and  home. 

Elmira  reformatory  deals  with  the  oldest  and 

most  deeply  involved  offender  who  can,  in  the 

broadest  sense  of  the   term,  be 

The  offender  in  the 

institution.    AS  we  called    a    juvenile    delinquent. 

descend  from  the  older 

and  more  deeply  in-    Yet  it  does  not  accept  those  wllO 

volved  to  the  younger  . 

and  milder  offender,  are   deepest  in   criminal   taint  , 
he  insane  malefactor  is  weeded 


tend  to  decreaise,  and    out     an(J 
in  such  a  way  as  to 

prove  that  at  leant  »<#  Concerning  the  physical  condi- 

and  probably  98*   of 

first   court    offenders    tion  of  those    it  KCCpS,  it  reports 
are  normal,   and    not       *  nn  -4        t  i 

more     than     2*     are    that   68.1%    haVC    not    good 
criminal  by  nature. 


health.*     How  many  of  these  are  criminal  by 

*"The  New  York  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira,"  page  30. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  3 

nature?  Certainly  but  a  small  fraction.  For 
it  is  an  axiom  of  criminology  that  the  natural 
criminal  cannot  be  cured  by  any  method  which 
Elmira  uses ;  yet,  out  of  thousands  it  handles, 
this  institution  claims  to  cure  all  except  18%. 
Now,  while  the  staff  recognizes  some  who  may 
be  criminal  by  nature,  it  would  not  claim  to  cure 
all  except  these.  It  follows  therefore  that  some 
of  the  18%  not  cured  are  tainted  in  some  other 
way  than  by  being  "born  criminals."  In  our 
effort  to  discover  the  number  of  such  we  can 
only  approximate.  But  we  may  assume  that 
morbidity,  insanity  and  the  criminal  nature  are 
three  forms  of  degeneracy  occurring  in  the 
offender.  We  may  also  assume  that  the  par- 
ticular form  of  vicious  nature  will  be  found  in 
not  more  than  half  of  those  unreclaimed. 

The  conditions  at   Elmira  are  probably  not 
exceptional.     Caldwell  Peniten- 

Conditions  at  Rah- 

way,  caidweii,  and  tiary   for   older   offenders    pub- 

Ihe  House  of  Refuge 

justify  this  assump.  lishes  no  report  and  no  one  has 

tion  and  show  a  de-  1  ., 

crease  of  phynicai  ab-  made  a  careiul  examination,  but 

during   many  visits   the  writer 

saw  no   phenomena  which  would   differ  essen- 


4  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

tially  from  those  at  Elmira.  This  conclusion  was 
strengthened  by  visits  to  Rahway  Reformatory 
and  the  House  of  Refuge  in  New  York,  both  of 
which  institutions  take  offenders  a  little  less 
deeply  involved  than  those  at  Elmira.  At  Rah- 
way not  more  than  15%  showed  striking  mal- 
development  and  the  heads  in  the  photograph 
file  confirmed  this  examination.  There  were 
outstanding  ears,  large  and  prognathous  jaws, 
defective  palates  and  several  other  peculiarities 
which  we  shall  see  later  described  by  the  Italian 
School  as  stigmata  of  crime,  but  in  not  more 
than  15%  were  these  combined  in  one  individual 
in  such  numbers  as  to  imply  abnormality  of 
nature.  Even  judging  all  these  abnormal  and 
using  the  same  method  of  division  as  with  the 
Elmira  statistics,  the  number  who  might  be 
natural  criminals  was  not  more  than  7.5%  of  the 
whole.  The  same  is  true  of  the  House  of 
Refuge  inmates.  There  was  physical  mal- 
development  —  one  inmate  being  a  dwarf  with 
a  keel-shaped  head,  and  almost  an  imbecile,  but 
not  more  than  7.5%  could  reasonably  be  suspected 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  5 

of  a  criminal  nature  in  the  accurate  sense  of 
that  term. 

The  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  takes  the 
mildest  grade  of  offenders  committed  to  an  in- 
stitution, about  40%  of  them  be- 

Hrdlicka's  report  of 

New  York  juvenile-  ing   orphans    or   neglected   and 

Asylum  children  did 

not  discover  i%   of  destitute     children.      Hrdlicka 

natural  criminals.  .  ,  , 

has  made  a  very  accurate  and 
careful  examination  of  a  thousand  of  these,  and 
the  gist  of  his  report  follows :  "  A  really  infe- 
rior child,  an  inherently  vicious  or  imbecile 
child,  or  one  who  could  not  be  much  improved 
by  better  food  and  better  hygienic  surroundings 
is  a  very  rare  exception;  14%  of  the  children 
examined  were  so  sound  that  there  was  not  a 
blemish  on  their  bodies."  Considering  any 
decided  deviation  from  the  typical  form  in 
health  as  an  abnormality,  and  counting  those  in 
whom  one-half  of  the  parts  of  the  body  ex- 
amined presented  one  or  more  abnormalities  as 
exceptional,  he  found  only  8.7%  such.  That  is, 
91.3%  were  either  in  excellent  bodily  condition 
or  not  exceptionally  poor.*  He  reports  that  there 

*  Forty-seventh  report  of  the  N.Y.  J.A.,  appendix. 


6  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

was  no  one  peculiarity  or  set  of  peculiarities 
which  could  be  considered  typical  of  the  asylum 
children,  and  there  was  no  abnormal  type.  The 
large  proportion  of  abnormalities  observed  was 
slight.  And  he  concludes  that  there  is  reason 
for  believing  these  results  would  not  differ 
materially  from  those  obtained  by  an  examina- 
tion of  children  of  the  same  social  class  not 
delinquent.  Not  one  child  could  be  called  an 
utter  degenerate,  and  by  this  he  means  an 
imbecile,  or  a  person  by  nature  so  unsound 
or  vicious  that  there  could  be  little  hope  of 
recovery. 

Concerning  the  8.7%  who  were  in  poor  physical 
condition,  assuming  that]  all  were  abnormal,  i.e., 
morbid,  subtly  insane,  or  with  a  criminal  nature, 
we  should  even  then  have  no  grounds  for  con- 
sidering that  more  than  2.9%  of  the  inmates 
might  be  criminal  by  nature,  if  we  use  the  same 
method  of  division  as  at  Elmira  and  Rahway. 

Yet  Hrdlicka  found  that  these  asylum  chil- 
The  juvenile  deim-  dren  differed  in  some  respects 

quent     is     not     well 

equipped  physically,  from  ordinary  children.  There 
was  more  temporary  mal-development,  more 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  7 

illness.  They  were  also  smaller  in  stature  and 
lighter  in  weight  than  the  ordinary  child. 
Similar  conditions  have  been  found  to  exist  in 
Boston,  and  also  in  the  British  delinquents.*  In 
English  institutions,  even  after  many  had  been 
rejected  on  account  of  poor  physique,  the  death 
rate  was  higher  than  normal.  At  the  Montclair 
School  for  Backwards  the  writer  found  the 
members,  almost  all  of  whom  are  troublesome 
children  and  almost  all  delinquents,  below  the 
average  in  physique.  They  were  under-devel- 
oped and  mal-developed,  especially  in  head 
formation. 

Many  of  the  children  in  institutions  as  mild 

as  New  YorV  Juvenile   Asylum  are,  however, 

probably  not  2*  of  more  deeply  involved  than  first 

court  offenders  are  CQUrt  offen(JerS.  Wheil  a  child 
strikingly  abnormal 

in  physique.  is  brought  to  court  for  an  iso- 

lated offence  or  for  trivial  offences  he  is  usually 
put  on  probation.  He  is  not  sent  to  an  institu- 
tion unless  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  persist- 
ence to  his  delinquency,  or  unless  he  is  so 
destitute  of  guardians  that  there  is  no  other 

*  Morrison,  "  Juvenile  Offenders,"  page  86. 


8  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

place.  Therefore  all  the  lightest  offenders  will 
escape  committal.  Consequently,  we  should  ex- 
pect that,  even  if  there  is  a  percentage  of  natural 
criminals  in  the  lighter  institutions,  that  per- 
centage would  be  less  among  court  offenders, 
and  this  seems  to  be  the  case.  A  judge  of  the 
Newark  Children's  Court,  having  ten  years'  ex- 
perience with  delinquents,  declared,  after  a  dis- 
cussion before  a  society  met  to  consider  the 
delinquent,  that  not  more  than  two  out  of  a 
hundred  could  be  classed  as  criminal  by  nature. 
He  was  probably  right.  An  examination  of  the 
children  at  Manhattan,  Brooklyn,  and  Newark 
Children's  Courts  convinced  the  writer  of  this. 
Many  of  the  children  are  underfed  and  under- 
developed, some  are  mal-developed  by  reason  of 
neglect  or  unwholesome  work.  The  dentition 
is  deficient  in  many ;  some  have  the  outstanding 
ears  described  by  the  Italian  School,  others 
have  abnormal  palates,  but  few  have  these 
peculiarities  in  such  numbers  or  in  such  sinister 
combinations  as  would  justify  calling  them  ab- 
normal. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  all  who  are 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  9 

tried  in  court  are  not  first  offenders.     A  large 
Fot  more  than  i  or  proportion   of   them   have  been 

2#    of  first  court   of- 

fenders  are  abnormal,     there     before.       So     that    6V6U    if 

there  were  two  abnormal  children  in  a  hundred 
court  offenders  there  would  be  less  than  that 
in  a  hundred  first  court  offenders,  and  not  even 
all  these  would  be  criminal  by  nature. 

To  recapitulate :   not  more  than  18%  of  the 

inmates  of  Elmira  could  be  declared  abnormal 

by   nature,  and   not  more  than 

Summary. 

9%  could  be  considered  naturally 
criminal.  Of  the  inmates  of  Caldwell,  Rahway, 
and  the  House  of  Refuge,  not  more  than  15% 
could  be  considered  abnormal  by  nature,  and 
not  more  than  7.5%  could  be  called  naturally 
criminal.  At  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  not 
more  than  8.7%  could  be  suspected  of  abnormal- 
ity of  nature,  and  not  more  than  2.9%  could  be 
considered  as  naturally  criminal ;  out  of  a  thou- 
sand examined  not  one  was  declared  thoroughly 
criminal  by  nature.  Of  court  offenders  not 
more  than  2%  were  abnormal  in  the  full  sense, 
and,  judging  from  their  physical  condition,  not 
1%  were  criminal  by  nature ;  therefore,  of  first 


10  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

court  offenders,  which  includes  children  un- 
doubtedly less  tainted  than  court  offenders,  not 
more  than  2%  could  be  counted  criminal  by 
nature,  i.e.,  atavistic  in  the  sense  implied  by  the 
Italian  School. 

Conclusions  which  at  first  seem  so  contradic- 
tory to  those  of  Lombroso  and  Ferri  might  be 

my  this  conclusion  doubted  if  the  reason  for  such 
is  not  as  opposite  to  variance  couid  not  be  indicated. 

that    of    the    Italian 

school  as  seems.  Xhe  process  of  the  courts  and 
penal  institutions  tends  to  sift  out  the  more 
normal  delinquent  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
develop  the  abnormal  on  the  other.  Many 
first  court  offenders  never  appear  in  court  a 
second  time :  these  are  not  included.  Of  those 
in  juvenile  institutions  50%  are  reclaimed  :  these 
are  excluded  also.  Others  gravitate  to  the 
sterner  institutions  like  Rahway,  and  of  these 
again  some  50%  may  be  supposed  to  be  cured. 
Since  there  is  no  indeterminate  sentence  for 
older  malefactors,  these,  at  the  expiration  of 
sentence,  go  on  in  criminality.  Those  who 
were  once  normal  may  easily  become  morbid 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  11 

and  those  who  could  not,  in  childhood,  be  called 
criminal  by  nature,  now  appear  so. 

At  an  institution  like  Elmira  some  of  the 
worst  cases  are  sent  to  prisons  for  "  insane 
criminals."  It  is  to  be  expected  that  in  such 
an  institution  the  number  of  insane  criminals 
would  increase. 

Social  classes  are  not  clearly  fixed  in  this 
country  because  of  a  relatively  mobile  state  of 
society.  A  criminal  may  go  to  the  frontiers 
and  in  that  life,  which  more  nearly  approaches 
the  uncivilized,  find  an  environment  that  does 
not  induce  criminality,  i.e.,  a  breaking  of  the 
law.  But  in  England,  for  example,  social 
classes  are  more  static.  There  is  a  nearer 
approach  to  what  may  be  called  a  dependent 
and  delinquent  class,  and  by  that  is  meant  not 
a  number  of  dependent  or  delinquent  indi- 
viduals, but  a  sort  of  society  within  society, 
having  traditions,  training,  parentage,  and  en- 
vironments limiting  opportunities  in  a  way 
which  tends  to  delinquency. 

An  examination  of  the  street  children  in  the 
poorer  quarters  of  Liverpool,  Manchester,  the 


12  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

Cheshire  County  Prison  and  Almshouse,  and 
the  White  Chapel  region  of  London  proved  to 
the  writer  that  these  juveniles  more  nearly 
approached  a  degenerate  type  than  did  those  in 
the  United  States.  The  children  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  parents,  and  the  inmates  of  the 
almshouse  and  prison  were  more  abnormal  in 
aspect  and  more  nearly  members  of  a  class  than 
any  observed  here.  For  example,  in  the  slums 
of  England  and  France  the  writer  saw  little 
barefooted  waifs  whose  pallid  faces  and  pitifully 
crooked  bodies  were  not  merely  under-developed 
but  mal-developed,  and  that  from  birth.  They 
suggested  successive  layers  of  crookedness 
—  the  heritage  of  close  inbreeding  due  to  a 
static  state  of  the  little  society  in  which  they 
lived.  They  differed  as  much  from  the  ordi- 
nary child  as  one  white  race  differs  from 
another.  They  could  be  picked  out  in  a  crowd. 
These  intermarrying  with  their  kind  produce  a 
degenerate  class,  yet  they  are  not  all  criminals 
by  any  means.  There  was  often  a  beautiful 
loyalty  among  them.  One  girl  of  ten  was 
foster-mother  to  several  younger.  She  was 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  13 

nursing  a  little  baby,  chopping  herring  boxes 
with  a  table  knife,  and  selling  the  kindlings  at 
ten  bundles  for  a  penny  to  support  the  others. 

In  Italy  the  social  conditions  in  this  sense  are 
still  more  adapted  to  the  formation  of  a  delin- 
quent class.  Italy  has  for  centuries  been  the 
home  of  criminal  study,  because  the  social  con- 
ditions made  it  the  home  of  the  criminal.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  La  Mania,  Camorra, 
Mana  Nigra,  the  Charbonari  and  other  societies 
of  malefactors  either  had  their  rise  in  Italy  or 
came  from  nearby  localities  and  found  congenial 
surroundings  there.  They  have  all  flourished 
within  a  century,  Mania  and  Camorra  at  times 
even  competing  with  the  government  itself. 

Now  when  we  find  that  the  percentage  of 
abnormal  physiques  increases  in  our  country 
with  its  mobile  conditions,  as  we  advance  from 
the  younger  to  the  older  offender,  and  also  see 
that  in  England  the  percentage  of  abnormalities 
is  so  great  as  to  make  them  approach  in  appear- 
ance a  criminal  type,  we  can  perceive  how 
Ferri  and  Lombroso,  working  with  the  old  cul- 
prits of  static  Italy,  could  suppose  that  these 


14  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

peculiarities  were  typical  of  criminals  every- 
where. 

In  making  anthropological  charts  of  the  in- 
mates of  a  New  Jersey  institution  the  writer 
found  many  Italians  among  them  and  it  is  an 
undoubted  fact  that  these  Italian  criminals 
approximate  Lombroso's  types.  Some  of  them 
are  surely  in  appearance  the  "  born  criminal "  of 
Lombroso.  Yet  an  actual  scientific  analysis  of 
the  data  taken  on  the  spot  reveals  not  more 
than  two  out  of  a  hundred  who  can  fairly  be 
described  in  Lombroso's  terms,  and  if  the  writer 
expresses  his  deepest  conviction  he  would  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  even  these  two  were  unques- 
tionably born  criminals,  though  the  data  lead 
him  to  go  on  the  supposition  that  one  of  them  is. 

These  conclusions  are  confirmed  from  another 
view-point.  Elmira  reports  that 

An  examination  of 

the   juvenile    deiin-  Out  of  5,899  men  89.7%  showed 

quent  with  respect  to 

intellect  and  culture  "  absolutely  no   moral  sense. "* 

confirms    the   conclu-  .  1 

Bions  of  the  preted-    But   it    must    not     be     SUppOSCQ 

(if P  Elmira  "condi-  ^na^  criminal  nature  is  inferred 
in  all  of  these,  for  her  reports 


tions. 


*  New  York  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira,  pages  30-32. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  15 

also  give  only  18%  of  failure  to  reform.  Also 
many  morbid  and  insane  people  who  are  not 
criminal  show  no  moral  sense.  The  writer  has 
seen  insane  patients  who  had  no  sense  of  shame. 
They  exposed  the  body  freely,  falsified,  and  did 
not  recognize  a  reproof.  They  stole  or  even 
attempted  murder  with  no  sign  of  moral  repug- 
nance, and  yet  the  reasoning  faculty  was  so 
slightly  impaired  that  the  attendants  were  con- 
vinced that  the  patient  was  not  really  insane. 
One  attendant  said  to  me  :  "  X  is  no  more  in- 
sane than  I  am.  She  has  the  devil  in  her,  that 's 
all."  The  explanation  of  the  dearth  of  moral 
sense  among  criminals  lies  in  illiteracy  and  lack 
of  culture.  The  reports  of  this  institution  give 
19.5%  with  a  mental  capacity  not  good ;  and 
75.5%  with  little  or  no  culture  ;*  and  in  another 
place  we  read :  "  More  than  60%  of  the  prisoners 
are  practically  illiterate  on  admission,  and  at 
least  one-third  of  the  whole  number  are  from 
the  dull  scholars  in  public  schools  or  truants 
who  burrow  in  lanes  and  alleys." 

Experience   shows  that  moral   perception   is 

*  Papers  in  Penology,  page  30. 


16  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

largely  a  matter  of  intellectual  capacity.     It  is 
Moral  perception  is  doubtful     whether     any    child 

intellectual  in  nature,    -t  .,-1  .    ••  , 

knows  either  right  or  wrong 
without  instruction.  Children  who  have  not 
been  brought  up  with  the  ordinary  moral  con- 
ceptions, who  have  been  taught  that  it  is  right 
to  steal,  lie,  or  commit  crime,  unless  caught,  if 
mentally  dull  and  lacking  in  intellectual 
culture,  cannot  be  expected  to  show  later  any 
signs  of  moral  sense  for  a  different  ethical 
standard.  It  would  be  like  asking  a  Chinaman 
to  produce  the  music  of  Wagner,  or  an  African 
savage  to  show  the  delicacy  of  moral  feeling  a 
cultured  woman  manifests.  For  example,  in  a 
small  town  of  England  the  writer  saw  a  girl  of 
eight  who  told,  with  all  a  child's  naivete,  of 
unnatural  sex  acts  which  she  practised  with  her 
father  and  brother.  Yet  she  was  not  vicious  or 
immoral  by  nature.  She  had  been  thus  taught 
by  her  father  and  the  question  of  right  or 
wrong  did  not  even  arise.  The  child  lacked 
intellect  and  culture  to  discriminate.  And  that 
the  delinquent  does  so  lack  in  intellect  and 
culture  is  clear. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  17 

In  the  Reform  School  at  Mitchellville  90%  of 

the   inmates   were   illiterate   and   95%    had   no 

domestic  accomplishments.*    At 

Data. 

Washington,  D.C.,  only  20%  of 
the  prison  boys  could  read.f  Of  the  Reform 
School  children  in  England  only  13%  could  read, 
and  this  was  due  in  large  measure  to  natural 
incapacity.:): 

Much  the  same  is  true  of  French  offenders. 
Raux  reports  as  follows  : 

Degre  &  instruction  des  jeunes  delinquants.% 

Illetres 35% 

Sacbant  lire 24% 

Sachant  lire  et  ecrire 31% 

Sachant  lire  et  ecrire  et  calculer 8% 

Posse  dont  une  bonne  instruction  primaire  ....  2% 

At  the  House  of  Refuge  there  was  noticeable 

backwardness.     Some  of  the  youths  of  sixteen 

House  of  Refuge      were    struggling    with    mental 

data-  problems    a     child    of     twelve 

could  ordinarily  solve,  and  though  many  were 

*  F.  P.  Fitzgerald,  Supt.  Industrial  School  for  Girls,  in  pamphlet 
entitled  "  What  should  be  the  Age  Limit,"  etc. 

f  Prisoners' Aid  in  Washington,  D.C.,  "Charities  Review,"  Vol. 
9,  page  3. 

£"  Juvenile  Offenders,"  Morrison,  page  109. 

§  "  Enfants  Coupable,"  page  34. 


18  THE  YOUJfG  MALEFACTOR. 

of  foreign  birth  or  parentage  and  therefore 
handicapped  by  a  strange  language,  much  was 
due  to  lack  of  capacity  and  training.  The 
story  is  told  of  a  young  boy  being  questioned 
by  the  judge  :  "  Do  you  ever  go  to  church  ?  " 
"  Yes,  sir."  "  Do  you  know  what  it  is  to  be 
born  again?"  "Sure  thing."  "Well,  would 
you  like  to  be  born  again?"  "Naw,  sir,  I 
might  be  born'd  a  girl." 

But  when  we  come  to  the  mildest  offenders, 
like  those  of  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum,  we 
New  York  Asylum  &*&    that    though    "many   are 
dau-  backward  when  they  enter  the 

institution,  they  rapidly  catch  up  under  the 
training  given."*  None  of  them  are  utterly 
lacking  in  intellect  and  in  moral  sense.  And 
when  we  consider  the  juvenile  in  court  we  find 
that  he  often  displays  rather  unusual  shrewd- 
ness and  wit.  It  is  a  common  occurrence  to  see 
a  child  of  ten  or  twelve  stand  with  his  chin 
barely  above  the  rail  and  answer  offhand  ques- 
tions which  would  puzzle  an  older  child  without 
the  precocious  knowledge  gained  on  the  street. 

*  Instructor's  report  for  1905. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  19 

There  is  often  a  lack  of  culture,  but  this  is 
most  naturally  explained  by  the  fact  that  they 
have  neither  been  trained  at  home  nor  sent  to 
school  regularly,  nor  have  they  had  the  food 
which  would  give  mental  strength. 

From  time  to  time  a  naturally  backward 
child  appears,  sometimes  even  an  imbecile,  but 
these  are  rare  exceptions,  not  amounting  to 
more  than  2%  of  the  whole,  and  somewhat  less 
than  this  if  we  limit  our  observations  to  first 
court  offenders.  To  summarize :  In  reforma- 
tories like  Elmira,  which  takes  the  oldest  offend- 
ers who  could  be  called  juveniles,  there  may  be 
39%  of  the  inmates  who  show  no  moral  sense. 
Some  of  these  are  morbid  or  subtly  insane.  But 
because  moral  sense  is  a  phase  of  intellect,  and 
over  80%  show  deficiency  in  intellect  or  culture, 
we  may  infer  that  the  ethical  defects  of  some  of 
this  39%  who  show  no  moral  sense  are  due  to 
lack  of  mentality  and  training.  As  we  descend 
to  the  court  offenders  we  find  this  explanation 
confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  ratio  of  those 
strikingly  lacking  in  mentality  and  moral  sense 
diminishes  to  not  more  than  2%.  And  since 


20  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

first  court  offenders  embrace  more  who  are 
undoubtedly  not  so  lacking  we  may  conclude 
that  at  least  90%  and  probably  98%  of  them  are 
normal  children.  How  much  of  criminal  nature 
is  present  we  may  the  better  know  by  an  exami- 
nation of  juvenile  offences. 

The  offences   for   which   children   are    tried 

before  the  courts  are  usually  of  a  trivial  nature, 

such    as   stealing   a  neighbor's 

The  delinquent  com- 

mite  almost  aii  kinds  rabbit,     harassing     a    peddler, 

of  offences,  but  most 

of  them  are  compara-    throwing        Snowballs       in        City 

tively  trivial  and  the 

rest  largely  indicate  streets,  entering   vacant  build- 


or 

dangerous  places.     The  motive 

not  more  than  i  or  2%  for  many  of  these  delinquencies 

of  them  are  the  actions 

of  children  criminal  is  often  proven  to  be  pure  mis- 

hy  nature.  . 

chief  —  as  one  group  of  juve- 
niles expressed  it,  "Just  to  be  chased  by  the 
ginney."  Judge  Lindsey  describes  a  group  of 
boys  who  had  broken  into  a  freight  car,  stolen  a 
box  of  bottles  containing  syrup  of  figs,  and 
drunk  much  of  the  contents.  When  the  weak 
and  half  sick  culprits  were  brought  to  court 
next  day  they  replied  to  the  judge's  question  of 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


21 


"  Why  did  you  do  it  ?  "  "  We  thought  it  was 
as  good  as  the  pictures  said." 

A  large  number  of  these  children  are  merely 
destitute,  abandoned  or  guardianless,  and  as  this 
condition  places  them  in  grave  danger  they  are 
considered  delinquents. 

There  are,  however,  some  serious  offences. 
The  delinquencies  for  which  children  were 
brought  before  the  New  York  Court,  those  of 
the  inmates  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum 
and  those  of  Jamesburg,  are  as  follows  :* 


Bad  Conduct. 

Some  Form 
of  Theft. 

Mixed. 

Unfortu- 
nate. 

Isolated. 

Abnor- 
mal. 

N.  Y.  Juvenile 
Court,  2  years 
report  : 

a  364 

51$ 

54 

8$ 

1* 

14 

5   30^  

50$ 

20# 

N.  Y.J.  A.,  46*  .  . 

90 

36$ 

3* 
60 

40# 

1% 

1< 

The  2%  entered  as  abnormal  are  not  certainly 
so ;  they  were  fornication  and  other  sex  crimes 

*  A  summary  of  reports  of  the  Children's  Courts  ac  Manhattan, 
fifty-first  report  of  N.Y.J.A.,  and  Jamesburg. 


22  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

like  indecent  exposure.  None  of  them  indi- 
cated surely  more  than  bad  training  and  careless 
oversight  by  the  parent. 

Of  the  Jewish  delinquents  of  Manhattan,  39% 
were  guilty  of  petty  mischief  and  theft.* 

The  House  of  Refuge  reports  that  50%  of  its 
inmates  are  truants,  vagrants,  and  disorderly 
persons.  And  here  is  shown  the  serious  nature 
of  some  delinquencies,  namely,  persistent  recidi- 
vism, for 

51.9%  were  habitually  irregular  in  school  attend- 
ance, 

24.9%  were  idle, 
54%  were  truants, 
37%  had  been  previously  arrested, 
31.2%  had  been  in  other  institutions,  yet  not 
more  than  5%  of  these  showed  abnormality 
enough  to  be  classed  as  degenerate.! 

In  France  there  is  the  same  report  of  triviality 
with  a  current  of  serious  offence.  Passez  re- 
ports, "  En  1891  (a  Paris)  on  a  arret6  68  jeune 
filles  &gees  de  trieze  a  seize  ans  et  se  livrant  a  la 

*"The  Jewish  Boy  Criminal."  Jewish  Charities,  page  126. 
1905. 

t  Eightieth  report. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  23 

prostitution."*  And  an  old  study  of  conditions 
in  New  York  probably  reflects  accurately  the  con- 
ditions of  to-day.  Out  of  2,000  prostitutes  ex- 
amined by  Dr.  Sanger  of  Blackwell's  Island,  48% 
were  twenty  years  or  under  in  age. 

The  fact  that  such  young  persons  are  found 
in  this  class  cannot  be  taken  to  indicate  physical 
or  mental  degeneracy  of  nature,  for,  where 
the  circumstances  are  examined,  the  parents 
themselves  are  usually  to  blame,  having  often, 
as  the  writer  has  seen  both  in  New  York  and 
Newark,  taught  the  children  by  parental  ex- 
ample, and  also  invited  men  to  prostitute  the 
children  for  the  sake  of  the  money  thus  ob- 
tained. For  example,  a  New  York  mother  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Jacob  A.  Riis  House 
was  in  the  habit  of  prostituting  herself,  with  her 
thirteen-year  old  daughter  in  the  same  room 
and  her  baby  on  the  same  bed.  In  Newark  a 
negro  mother  would  invite  passers-by  to  come 
in,  and  then,  with  no  apparent  shame  or  hesita- 
tion call  her  daughters  for  the  inspection  of  the 

*"Du  vagabondage  et  de  la  prostitution  des  Mineurs,"  Revue 
Penitentiaire,  Vol.  16,  page  972. 


24  THE  TOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

visitor,   receiving  the   money  as   if    she   were 
merely  selling  an  ordinary  article. 

Of  the  2,000  examined  by  Dr.  Sanger,  25% 
gave  "  inclination  "  as  their  reason  for  entering 
this  life,  yet  further  questioning  elicited  the 
fact  that  it  was  not  sexual  desire  but  inclina- 
tion induced  by  the  persuasion  of  other  fallen 
women,  —  craving  for  intoxicants  and  an  easy 
life,  or  desertion  by  husband  that  had  led  them 
to  take  up  this  life.*  All  of  which  answers,  as 
can  be  seen  by  the  cases  cited  in  detail,  reveal 
not  a  morbid  or  degenerate  nature,  but  unwhole- 
some environment  and  training.  And  the  accu- 
racy of  this  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  later 
statistics  from  Germany.  Ferriani  thus  analyzes 
10,422  cases  of  prostitution  according  to  cause  :f 

General  rice   and    depravity,  i.e.,   inclination    in 

Sanger's  sense 26  -}-  % 

Loss  of  husband  or  supporter 20  +  % 

Seduction  by  lovers 15  -f  % 

Seduction  by  patrons,  employees,  etc.,  upon  whom 

they  were  dependent 8  +  % 

Desertion  by  husband,  parent,  etc 7  -}-  % 

Luxury 6  +  % 

Incitement  by  those   loved   (not  members   of  the 

family) 6  +  % 

*  History  of  Prostitution  1859,  pages  450,  488,  etc. 
fMinderjahrige  Verbrecher,  page  169.    1895. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


25 


Incitement  by  husband  or  other  members  of  family,      3  +  % 
To  support  children,  parents  or  poor  or  sick  mem- 
bers of  their  family 3  +  % 

Other   offences    of    French    delinquents    are 
given  in  the  following  table  by  Raux:* 

(  ilefitres,  homicides,  coupes  et  blessures 

ayant  occasionne  la  mort 5 

Tentatives  de  deraillment 2 

Coupes  et  blessures,  injures,  menaces  et 

b  voies  de  fait 13 

Violences,  voies  de    fait  et  outrage  a 
g  agents  de  la  force  publiques    ....      6 

o> 

o       Q       Viols  et  tentatives o  73  or  19# 

Attentats  a  la  pudeur 28 

Outrages  a  la  pudeur 13 

Vols  qualifies,  complicite  et  tentative     .    50 

"    simple- 169 

oc        p,       Soustractions  frauduleuses 2 

cs        b       Abus  de  confiance 7 

237  or  61* 
q       -2    '  Escroqueries  et  tentatives 4 

_        ^       Faux  en  ecriture 1 

Bris  de  cloture 3 

Evasions  par  bris  de  prison 1 

Incendies  volontaires 4 

<n       Participation  a  insurrection 3 

Vagabondage 56 

Mendicite     .                                               .  12 


"  Enfants  Coupable,"  page  40. 


26  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  such  crimes  as 
manslaughter,  murder,  sex  crimes,  and  incendi- 
arisms indicate  degenerate  physique  or  min-d. 
But  taking  all  the  offences  given  under  these 
heads,  22  in  number,  still  the  percentage  of 
such  crimes  is  only  5.7%.  And  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  all  of  these  are  indica- 
tions of  vicious  or  criminal  or  atavistic  nature, 
that  is,  a  nature  reverting  back  to  an  earlier 
type,  so  that  both  physique  and  mind  are  organ- 
ized and  function  much  in  the  way  those  of  a 
primitive  savage  might  be  expected  to  act  had 
he  been  brought  in  contact  with  civilization 
and  by  training  been  taught  the  fundamental 
customs  of  society. 

Take  an  example  of  murder  in  a  child  of 
about  thirteen.  A  girl  was  given  care  of  her 
baby  sister.  Because  the  child  troubled  her 
she  poisoned  it.  Examination  of  the  family 
revealed  a  taint.  There  were  stigmata  of  de- 
generacy present  but  not  in  great  numbers  or 
in  sinister  combinations.  A  brother  was  delin- 
quent and  sent  to  the  George  Junior  Republic 
at  Freeville.  The  writer  knew  the  family  and 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOB.  27 

visited  the  boy.  There  was,  so  far  as  he  could 
see,  no  trace  of  a  criminal  nature  in  either  the 
boy  or  the  girl  or  in  the  parents,  yet  a  morbid 
streak  appeared  in  the  girl,  and  a  kind  of  mental 
instability  in  the  mother.  The  girl  had  been  a 
bright  child  at  school ;  there  was  no  record  of 
delinquent  acts.  When  she  was  brought  before 
the  courts  she  was  declared  insane.  This  was 
probably  not  deep  insanity,  but  the  result  of 
parental  neglect  and  overwrought  nerves  work- 
ing temporarily  on  a  neurotic  subject. 

Even  when  there  is  a  record  of  previous  bad 
conduct  like  that  shown  in  the  following  table 
by  Raux,  there  is  not  often  either  degeneracy, 
morbidity,  or  atavism  :* 

Dont  la  conduite  etait  bonne 60     ..      16% 

Dont  la  conduite  laissait  a  desirer     .     .     .  65     .     .      16% 

Dont  la  conduite  etait  mauvaise    ....  138     .     .      36% 

{Une  fois     ...  68 

Deux  "       ...  40 

Trois  "       ...  77 

I  Plus  de  trois  fois,  10 


32% 


It  is  very  rarely  criminal  or  vicious  nature  that 
causes  recidivism  in  the  first  court  offenders ;  it 

*  "  Enfants  Coupable,"  page  30. 


28  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

is  bad  environment,  and  the  proof  of  this  is  that 
whenever  the  environment  has  been  thoroughly 
changed  the  child  has  recovered.  With  no 
medical  aid  and  with  no  means  except  the  in- 
fluence of  a  strong  personality  exerted  in  such  a 
way  that  the  effective  environment  of  the  delin- 
quent was  altered,  Judge  Lindsey  of  Denver 
has  cured  96%  of  all  those  handled  in  his  court, 
and  there  are  many  who  are  worse  than  first 
court  offenders  there. 

To  understand  the  nature  of  juvenile  offences 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  get  at  them  not 
from  the  technical  names  given  in  court,  or  by  a 
hearsay  verdict  of  somebody  who  saw  the  mere 
deed,  but  we  must  see  the  whole  act  from  the 
culprit's  standpoint.  Such  a  study  reveals  some 
bizarre  crime  that  is  surely  the  result  of  morbid 
nerves,  much  more  which  is  the  result  of  hered- 
ity and  training,  but  most  of  all  from  mere  im- 
maturity and  accident.  For  example,  a  negro 
boy  in  one  of  our  juvenile  classes  would  expose 
himself  in  the  presence  of  the  children  and 
teacher.  He  would  begin  masturbation  and 
attempt  homosexuality  in  the  presence  of  the 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  29 

teacher  or  in  public.  He  was  decidedly  lack- 
ing in  mentality.  This  is  abnormal  nerves,  a 
form  of  insanity,  and  it  is  so  rare  that  the 
writer  has  seen  only  one  case  in  several  hun- 
dred delinquents.  There  is  more  of  the  second 
kind,  i.e.,  mixed  heredity  and  environment.  For 
example,  a  family  consisting  of  mother  and  four 
children.  The  mother  is  a  German  peasant, 
dull  and  uneducated.  Though  for  years  in 
America  she  has  not  learned  enough  English  to 
understand  a  simple  baptismal  ceremony  or  to 
speak  with  a  visitor.  She  and  her  family  were 
found  living  in  an  old  dwelling  which  had  been 
used  as  a  chicken-coop.  All  the  boys  were 
delinquent,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  placed 
with  a  good  family  interested  and  able  to  deal 
well  with  them,  the  mother  began  proceedings 
to  recover  her  children.  This  was  done  at  least 
twice.  The  daughter  is  stupid  and  on  the  verge 
of  a  life  of  illegitimacy  or  even  prostitution. 
Much  of  this  delinquency  is  sheer  dulness,  the 
rest  is  lack  of  training.  A  knowledge  of  the 
family  for  years  makes  the  writer  know  that 


30  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

there  is  nothing  accurately  described  as  "  natural 
criminality  "  among  them.  Even  such  a  family 
as  this  is  so  rare  that  its  discovery  was  heralded 
by  all  the  newspapers.  Not  three  in  a  hundred 
are  of  this  kind. 

The  third  and  by  far  the  most  common  kind 
is  typified  by  the  following :  A  boy  of  fourteen 
had  sold  two  pigeons  to  another.  The  price 
agreed  on  was  fifty  cents,  of  which  a  quarter 
was  deposited  with  the  understanding  that  the 
rest  would  be  paid  soon  and  both  the  pigeons 
(which  were  a  pair)  should  be  taken.  The 
pigeons  were  taken,  but  the  other  quarter  was 
not  paid,  even  after  repeated  demands.  There- 
fore the  boy  went  at  night,  broke  the  lock  on 
the  coop  and  took  back  both  his  pigeons.  In 
court  he  repeatedly  asserted  that  he  had  done 
nothing  wrong.  The  prosecutor  said  he  himself 
had  offered  to  let  the  boy  off  if  he  would  apolo- 
gize. But  the  "culprit"  refused  even  this. 
And  rightly  so.  He  knew  nothing  of  technical 
law,  yet  he  was  indicted  for  "breaking  and 
entering,"  of  which  he  refused  to  plead  guilty. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  31 

The  judge  solved  the  problem  by  saying,  "Did 
you  break  the  lock  and  get  in  the  coop?" 
"Yes."  "Then  you  plead  guilty."  But  from 
the  boy's  standpoint  he  had  simply  gone  and 
taken  back  his  own  property.  This  is  typical  of 
very  much  so-called  juvenile  crime.  The  child 
does  not  see  the  complainant's  side,  he  does  not 
know  the  difference  between  an  unwise  act  and 
a  criminal  one  and  he  has  not  knowledge  enough 
to  right  his  wrongs  in  a  legal  way. 

The  juvenile  delinquent  commits  all  kinds  of 

offences,  but,  as  shown   by  an  examination  of 

court  offenders,  very   many   of 

To  recapitulate. 

them  are  so  trivial  that  the 
child  is  merely  fined  or  put  on  probation.  Even 
when  the  offence  or  condition  of  the  juvenile  is 
such  that  he  is  sent  to  an  institution  like  New 
York  Juvenile  Asylum,  figures  covering  almost 
fifty  years  show  the  offences  to  be  only  destitu- 
tion or  misfortune  in  40%  of  cases,  and  in  an  in- 
stitution like  the  House  of  Refuge  54%  are  only 
truants.  Raux's  table  of  French  offences,  which 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe  typical,  gives  as 


32  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

a  maximum  5.7%  who  might  be  counted  degen- 
erate. An  examination  of  known  cases  shows 
that  some  of  this  5.7%  are  not  atavistic  natures 
in  Lombroso's  sense,  but  only  cases  of  weak 
nerves  or  morbidity  acted  on  by  poor  environ- 
ment, as  a  child  who  throws  a  brick  from  a 
house-top  and  kills  a  boy,  not  realizing  that  a 
brick  thrown  from  a  house-top  will  carry  farther 
than  one  thrown  on  the  level.  And  the  fact 
that  Judge  Lindsey  has,  by  changing  the  envi- 
ronments of  delinquents,  cured  96%,  many  of 
whom  were  more  deeply  involved  than  first 
court  offenders,  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  all 
kinds  of  delinquencies  are  committed  by  the 
juvenile ;  most,  however,  are  trivial,  and  the 
rest  indicate  largely  an  environmental  source. 
Not  more  than  10%  are  of  an  abnormal  character 
and  probably  not  5%  of  the  offenders  are  abnor- 
mal. Of  the  5%  who  may  be  suspected  of  ab- 
normality at  least  half  are  probably  only  slightly 
morbid ;  of  the  rest  some  are  insane,  and  perhaps 
1  or  2%  at  most  of  first  court  offenders  may  be 
accurately  called  natural  criminals. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  33 

B.       THE    HOME    OF    THE    YOUNG    OFFENDER. 

Many   of    the  delinquents   are   arrested    for 

petty  thieving,  vagrancy,  and  the  like.     So  per- 

Generai  thesis:  a  sistent  are  these  habits  that  the 

study  of  the  deiin-  question  of  kleptomania  or  de- 

quent  with  respect  to 

economic    condition,  linquent  nature  may  be  raised. 

orphanage,     parental 

and  home  conditions  But   examination    of   the    eco- 

confirms     the    thesis  ,,     ,  , 

that  at  least  vo%  of  nomic  status  of  the  young  male- 


factor    reveals    the    following: 
cL'  Eighty-eight  per  cent  of    179 

are  a  result  of  envi-  homes  of  inmates  of  New  York 

ronment  and  training. 

it  also  confirms  the  Juvenile    Asylum    had   a    per 

judgment     that     not  _ 

more  than  2*  of  first  capita  weekly  income  oi  three 

court    offenders    are       ,    ,  .  -.  &  j     ff)  o/>/       £ 

atavistic  in  the  itai-  dollars  or  less  ;*    and  52.8%  of 
ian  sense.  S24i  households  of  the  children 


attending  the  industrial  schools  f  of  the  Chil- 
dren's Aid  Society  of  New  York  had  an  income 
of  seven  dollars  or  less  per  week  for  the  whole 
household.  Counting  only  the  usual  five  per 
family  —  and  the  family  of  the  poor  averages 
more  than  this  —  we  have  an  income  of  $1.40 
per  capita  weekly.  In  one  case  the  old  mother 

*  See  also  another  table,  page  32,  N.Y.  J.A.,  1903  report. 

f  Short-term  Juvenile  Offende  s,  Charities,  Vol.  10  ;  1903  report. 


34  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE. 

had  no  income;  she  procured  the  entire  sub- 
sistence of  the  family  from  the  garbage  recepta- 
cles on  the  street.  The  one  room  of  the 
"home"  was  a  windowless  attic  and  she  slept 
with  her  children  on  the  bare  floor. 

Also  many  of  the  children,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  orphans  or  abandoned,  with  not  even  this 
small  sum  to  live  on.  It  is  not,  therefore,  a  sign 
of  vicious  nature  if  these  habitually  steal. 

In  England  most  of  the  parents  could  not  pay 
five  shillings  per  week  to  the  support  of  chil- 
dren in  an  institution.  Only  10%  of  the  reform 
school  and  15%  of  the  industrial  school  children 
had  ever  lived  under  "  comfortable  "  economic 
conditions.*  Forty-six  per  cent  lived  in  lodg- 
ings ;  77%  of  them  had  not  even  begun  to  learn 
a  trade.  Much  of  this  springs  from  the  in- 
capacity and  poverty  of  the  parents,  but  in 
some  cases  it  is  misfortune  ;  50%  of  the  poverty 
before  the  Bureau  of  Associated  Charities  was 
caused  either  by  illness  or  by  misfortune,  f 

Of  the  prostitutes  examined  by  Sanger  the 

*  Morrison,  "Juvenile  Offenders,"  page  16. 
f  Twenty-second  annual  report. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


35 


weekly  earnings  before  entering  that  trade  were 
as  follows  :* 


One  dollar 534 

Two  dollars  ....  33G 
Three  dollars  .  .  .  .230 
Four  dollars  ....  127 
Five  dollars  ...  67 


Six  dollars   .....  27 

Seven  dollars    ....  8 

Eight  dollars     ....  5 

Twenty  dollars      ...  1 

Fifty  dollars      ....  1 


Unascertained,  664.     Total,  2,000. 

In  some  relatively  few  cases  these  women  had 
been  compelled  to  choose  between  this  arid 
starvation ;  some  were  supporting  sick  or  aged 
parents,  and  a  somewhat  large  per  cent  were 
earning  almost  one  hundred  times  as  much  by 
prostitution  as  by  the  only  work  open  to  them. 
Where  before  they  did  "  menial  work "  and 
were  looked  down  on,  they  now  were,  as  they 
expressed  it,  "  Boss."  In  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion of  how  much  was  earned  the  following  was 
elicited  and  is  probably  correct :  "  We  enter- 
tain from  five  to  thirty  men  a  day ;  we  get  from 
one  to  two  dollars  from  each  man,  and  he  pays 
from  half  a  dollar  to  two  dollars  to  the  saloon 
for  the  room.  We  get  also  a  '  rake  off '  from  the 


*  History  of  Prostitution,  page  529. 


36  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

drink  he  buys."  This  money  was  almost  in* 
variably  spent  foolishly  as  fast  as  earned. 

The  view-point  of  some  of  these  women  is 
thought>inducing.  In  answer  to  the  writer's 
offer  to  stand  back  of  one  woman  who  was  sup- 
porting a  family  so,  she  said :  "  If  I  leave  this 
what  shall  I  do?"  "Work  at  something 
honest."  "  But  I  can  not  do  anything  except 
rough  work."  "  Well,  that  will  be  honest." 
"  Honest  you  call  it  ?  Honest  ?  Yes,  I  work 
at  scrubbing,  I  am  looked  down  on  as  a  scrub- 
woman ;  I  get  four  dollars  a  week  and  wear 
rags.  Here  I  work  when  I  please,  entertain 
whom  I  please,  and  I  'd  rather  take  the  treat- 
ment I  get  now  than  that  which  you  offer  me." 
"  But  your  little  girl ;  do  you  want  hei  to  follow 
you  ?  "  "  No ;  and  she  never  shall ;  I  '11  kill  her 
first ;  she  shall  never  know  ;  I  will  send  her  to 
school  and  pay  her  way  myself ;  I  don't  want 
any  charity." 

At  Elmira  89%  of  those  received  in  twelve 
months  had  no  steady  means  of  securing  a 
living  and  no  trade ;  85.5%  of  their  parents  had 
no  accumulations. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  37 

Therefore  it  is  not  necessarily  criminal  nature 
that  impels  children  with  such  improper  food 
and  such  lack  of  money  persistently  to  steal,  or 
sell  themselves  in  prostitution.*  Also  parents 
of  homes  like  these  will  be  unable  to  properly 
clothe  children,  give  them  the  many  little  things 
a  school  child  needs  and  the  supervision  which 
will  insure  regular  attendance  at  lessons,  so  that 
even  confirmed  truancy  is  not  an  infallible 
sign  of  vicious  nature. 

With  a  small  amount  of  money  an  efficient 
parent  in  a  country  home  might  struggle  along, 
and  keep  the  children  from  delinquency,  but  in 
a  large  city  or  small  town  it  is  more  difficult, 
and  the  delinquent  is  characteristically  a 
product  of  city  and  town  life.  Out  of  130,000 
in  our  reformatories  98%  come  from  cities, 
towns,  and  villages,  2%  from  the  open  country. 
At  the  House  of  Kefuge  78%  come  from  the 
tenement  region  of  New  York.  Most  of  the 
children  at  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum 
come  from  the  lower  East  side ;  of  268  families 

*  Thirty-eight  per  cent  of  Ferrani's  prostitutes  were  driven  to 
it  by  poverty ;  see  table  referred  to  on  page  24. 


38  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

85%  lived  in  tenements.  Almost  all  the  delin- 
quents of  Montclair  come  from  the  zones  of 
cheap  rents  and  crowded  living.  Note  what 
this  implies. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  Is  the  child  of  the 
slums  less  moral  than  the  child  of  wealthy 
sections?  a  company  of  school-teachers  unani- 
mously said,  "No;  he  is  more  moral."  That 
was  because  they  realized  the  temptations  of 
slum  life  on  a  child.  They  were  surprised  that 
the  slum  youth  does  so  well.  For,  as  the  fol- 
lowing table  shows,  there  is  a  larger  ratio  of 
crimes,  of  saloons,  of  illiteracy,  and  of  persons 
per  dwelling  (which  last  is  a  strong  cause  of 
delinquency)  in  the  slum  than  in  the  general 
city: 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


39 


BALTIMORE. 

CHICAGO. 

City. 

Slum. 

City. 

Slum. 

One     crime     to 
every   14    per- 
sons. 

One  crime  to 
every  9  per- 
sons. 

One     crime     to 
every  11  per- 
sons. 

One  crime  to 
every  4  per- 
lions. 

One    saloon    to 
every  229  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  105  per- 
sons. 

One    saloon    to 
every  212  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  127  per- 
sons. 

Illiterates    9.74$ 
of  the  people. 

Illiterates  19.60*. 

IlliterateB,4.63$. 

Illiterates  25.37$. 

Ayerage  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  6.02. 

Averege  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  7.71. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  8.60. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  15.51. 

YORK. 


PHILADELPHIA. 


City. 

Slum. 

City. 

Slum. 

One  crime  to 
every  18  per- 
sons. 

One  crime  to 
every  6  per- 
sons. 

One     crime     to 

every  18  per- 
sons. 

One  crime  to 
every  13  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  200  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  129  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  870  per- 
sons. 

One  saloon  to 
every  502  per- 
sons. 

Illiterates  7.69$ 
of  the  people. 

Illiterates  46.65$. 

Illiterates  4.97$. 

Illiterates  37.07$. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  18.52. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  37.79. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  5.60. 

Average  number 
of  persons  per 
dwelling  7.34. 

This   then   is   the   external  location   of    the 
delinquent  home  and  it  is  often  so  bad  that  not 


40  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

even  trained  settlement  workers  would  risk 
bringing  their  children  up  in  it,  were  they  given 
a  good  house  and  money  enough  to  do  so.  Sev- 
eral cases  have  come  to  the  writer's  notice,  —  of 
young  men  specially  trained  and  desirous  of 
working  in  slum  betterment  work.  Yet  they 
were  unable  to  withstand  the  influence  of  these 
surroundings.  Some  left  the  work,  and  thus 
barely  saved  themselves,  others  succumbed  and 
became  a  part  of  the  thing  they  had  attempted 
to  better.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  appar- 
ently morbid  offences  spring  from  this  environ- 
ment ;  therefore  the  fact  that  the  delinquent  is 
below  the  average  child  in  bodily,  mental,  and 
moral  condition  cannot  be  taken  to  indicate 
natural  degeneracy  when  we  know  the  locality 
of  his  home. 

Also  the  data  of  orphanage  strengthen  this 
conclusion.  Of  delinquents  examined  by  Raux 
47.4%  had  lost  father,  mother  or  both.*  In 
England  53%  of  the  juvenile  offenders  were  in 
effect  orphans  or  semi-orphans.f  An  old  study 


*  "  Enfants  Coupable,"  page  4. 

f  "  Juvenile  Offenders,"  Morrison,  page  145. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  41 

of  delinquents  at  Hartford  found  66.6%  orphans 
in  fact  or  in  effect.*  At  Waukesha  only  41%  had 
both  parents  living.f  Of  the  delinquents  at 
Bridewell  45%  had  no  parent  living.  Sixty-six 
per  cent  of  those  at  the  House  of  Refuge  were 
orphans  in  fact  or  effect,  while  only  46%  of 
the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  children  had 
both  parents  living  4  The  State  Home  at  James- 
burg  reports  19%  orphans  or  semi-orphans.  And 
the  report  for  the  Reform  School  population  of 
the  United  States  gives  75%  orphans  or  semi- 
orphans.  At  Elmira  also  41.9%  had  left  their 
homes  before  they  were  fifteen  years  of  age. 

Considering  that  these  orphans  were  adrift  in 
localities  such  as  those  described  in  the  para- 
graphs preceding,  we  should  expect  recidivism  in 
the  children  sent  back  without  further  help. 
Yet  it  is  to  be  doubted  if  the  condition  of  these 
orphans  and  deserted  children  is  worse  than 
some  of  those  delinquents  who  have  a  "  home." 
Under  the  paragraph  on  the  economic  condition 
of  the  delinquent  the  economic  status  of  the 

*"  Report  of  the  Joint  Special  Committee,"  Hartford,  1863. 

f  Cady,  "  Juvenile  Offender." 

J  N.Y.J.A.  fifty-first  report,  covering  49  years  and  37,528  children. 


42  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

home  was  seen  to  be  markedly  low.  Much  the 
same  is  true  when  we  look  at  the  moral  and 
intellectual  status  of  that  home.  It  may  be 
surprising  to  discover  that  the  parents  of  the 
offender  are  often  temperate.  The  Hebrew 
Shelter  Refuge  reported  that  out  of  the  parents 
of  seven  hundred  orphans,  not  one  was  intem- 
perate. If  this  is  true,  it  is  not  typical.  At 
Jamesburg  11%  of  the  children  had  one  or  both 
parents  intemperate.*  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum  reports  81%  of  the  parents  temperate  ; 
15%  one  or  both  intemperate  and  2%  unknown. 
At  the  House  of  Refuge  47%  of  the  inmates 
had  one  or  both  parents  in  temperate. f  It  should 
be  understood,  however,  that  many  of  the 
parents  belonged  to  that  class  which,  while  not 
intemperate,  like  drink  and  use  it  steadily. 

In  other  respects  the  parents  are  not  so  good. 
Of  385  families  examined  by  Raux,  36%  of  the 
parents  were  of  good  repute,  52%  poor  or  bad 
and  12%  criminal.J  Morrison  says  that  80%  of 
the  parents  of  English  delinquents  have  crimi- 

*  Fifty-first  report  covering  49  years. 
+•  Eightieth  report,  page  33. 
J"Enfants  Coupable,"  page  4. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  48 

nal  or  vicious  habits  ;  *  that  is,  about  60%  of  the 
parents  of  delinquents  are  noticeably  bad,  and 
this  viciousness  is  often  expressed  in  cruelty  to 
the  child.  Lydia  VonWolfring,  a  German 
student  of  juveniles,  describes  the  results  on  the 
children  somewhat  rhetorically,  but  truly,  in  her 
classification  of  injuries  to  children  brought  to 
court  for  relief,  as  follows  : 

(1.)     Zufallige  Misshandlungen. 

(2.)     Misshandlungen     aus     gehassigkeit    mit    boswilliger 

Absicht  um  zu  Qualen,  aber  ohne  den  Tod  veran- 

lassen  zu  Wollen. 
(3.)     Misshandlungen  mit  der  Absicht  die  Kinder  dem  Tode 

zuzufiihren;    ein  langsamer  Mord,  nicht  leicht  zu 

beweisen. 

The  first  caption  of  her  classification,  acci- 
dental ill-treatment,  indicates  the  character  of  a 
relatively  large  number  of  the  parents  of  the 
delinquents.  When  they  are  not  vicious  in 
intent,  they  are  stupid,  ignorant,  or  incompetent. 
Forty-five  per  cent  of  the  Mitchellville  Reforma- 
tory parents  are  described  as  incompetent-! 
They  do  not  fulfil  the  elementary  requirements 

*  "  Juvenile  Offenders,"  page  150. 

f  "  What  should  be  the  age  limit  ?  "  Pamphlet  by  Superintend- 
ent Fitzgerald. 


44  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

of  parentage.  During  the  heat  of  summer  many 
children  with  parents  of  this  class  die  for  lack 
of  the  most  simple  relief.  The  parents  of  the 
inmates  of  the  House  of  Refuge  are  of  foreign 
birth  in  almost  50%  of  cases,  and  most  of  these 
hardly  speak  English  at  all.  They  are  of  the 
immigrant  type,  sometimes  described  as  the 
"  scum  "  of  our  population  ;  95%  of  the  parents 
of  Elmira  inmates  are  below  high  school  grade 
in  education,  and  only  7.6%  of  the  inmates  ever 
had  a  good  home.* 

In   France   this   incompetence   is   shown    by 
Raux  as  follows  : 

SITUATION    MORALE    DE    I/ENFANT    DAKS    LA    FAMILLE. 

Jcuncs  Delinquants. 
Soumis  a  une  surveillance  normale 13% 

"      "  "  "  faible  ^ 

"      "  "  "          impuissante  I 41% 

"      "  "  ««          brutale          J 

Moralement  abandonnes  \  nom 

Completement       "  / 

Excites  au  delit  par  1'exemple  des  parents  ^ 
Ayant  commis  le  delit  sous  Pinstigation  et  >-....        8% 
avec  la  complicite  de  leurs  parents          J 

Only  13%  of  all  examined  had  ordinary  super- 

*  "  The  New  York  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira,"  page  31. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  45 

vision  by  the  parents ;""  the  rest  were  either 
allowed  to  drift  into  delinquency,  or  taught 
and  initiated  to  criminality  by  their  guardians. 

Not  only  so,  but  the  home  itself  possesses  not 
even  the  bare  necessities  which  help  to  keep 
the  child  off  the  streets.  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum  reports  that  "  some  of  their  children 
come  from  cellars,  lighted  only  by  a  stairway  or 
coal  shaft,  some  from  garrets  approached  only 
by  a  ladder.*  Other  '  homes  '  have  no  furniture 
except  a  soap  box,  and  in  some  cases  a  heap  of 
rags  serves  for  a  bed.  Some  are  found  in  cold 
rooms  with  no  method  of  heating.  Others  de- 
pend on  the  chance  help  of  neighbors.  Often 
there  are  three  families  in  three  rooms,  or  a 
family  of  five  in  one  room.  In  one  case  a 
mother  and  five  children  lived  in  one  room  and 
slept  on  the  bare  floor.  As  a  rule,  the  parents 
belonged  to  that  class  who  will  not  work  at 
reputable  labor,  who  like  drink  and  yield  easily 
to  temptation." 

Prof.  Francis  Wayland,  dean  of  Yale  Law 
School,  speaking  of  those  delinquents  usually 

*  N.Y.J.A.  report. 


46  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

called  inherently  vicious  or  degenerate,  says,* 
"  These  are  trained  in  a  school  of  vice,  taught 
that  successful  crimes  are  the  only  things  worth 
living  for;  praised  when  they  'make  a  haul;' 
punished  when  they  come  home  empty-handed. 
Their  homes  are  foul  dens,  filthy,  full  of  vermin, 
and  the  scenes  of  infamous  orgies  of  men  and 
women."  If,  therefore,  these  children  commit 
offences  which  are  morbid  or  degenerate,  we 
ought  not  to  conclude  that  the  children  are 
by  nature  degenerates,  criminal  or  atavistic. 
Such  homes  as  these  described  by  Professor 
Wayland  are,  of  course,  the  exception.  The 
writer  has  not  found  more  than  3%  which  could 
be  so  described.  In  some  of  the  worst  homes 
the  parents  encouraged  the  children  in  prostitu- 
tion, and  by  tacit  if  not  by  open  teaching  led 
them  to  steal,  but  the  majority  of  dwellings 
were  better  than  those  described  above. 

The  large  per  cent  of  homes  shows  rather 
negligence  and  tactlessness,  than  vicious  intent. 
For  example,  in  one  home  the  father  was  a 
capable  worker,  but  he  drank,  and  lost  his  work 

*  "  The  duty  of  the  State  to  its  neglected  and  destitute  children." 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  47 

incessantly.  The  mother  was  ill.  A  child  of 
ten  was  strapped  to  a  chair  "  to  keep  her  off  the 
street."  Another  child  was  a  delinquent.  The 
mother  did  not  know  where  he  was.  On  the 
death  of  the  mother  the  "  home  "  was  broken 
up ;  the  delinquent  boy  was  lost  track  of,  and 
the  children  found  shelter  wherever  they  could. 

Another  "  home "  was  that  of  a  widowed 
woman  and  four  children.  She  worked  all  day 
and  the  children  were  left  to  do  as  they  pleased. 
Two  of  the  four  became  delinquent.  The  other 
two  barely  escaped.  The  house  was  almost 
without  furniture,  and  the  mother  rarely  knew 
where  the  children  were.  One  of  the  boys  was 
in  jail  a  whole  week  without  her  knowledge. 
When  brought  before  the  judge  she  wrung  her 
hands  and  wept,  and  asserted  that  she  was 
doing  the  best  she  could. 

To  recapitulate  :  (a.)  The  home  of  the  de- 
linquent is  on  an  unstable  basis.  The  children 
have  so  little  money  that  habitual  steal- 
ing can  not  be  interpreted  as  an  indication 
of  natural  viciousness.  The  family  income 
is  not  sufficient  to  give  the  delinquent  bare 


48  TEE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

necessities  of  life  in  a  city,  and  it  is  in  the 
city  that  the  delinquent  arises.  His  home  is 
usually  in  the  slum  portion  of  the  locality  in 
which  it  is  situated  and  in  this  slum  influence 
the  delinquent  child,  often  an  orphan,  is  really 
adrift.  This  in  itself  would  explain  all  the 
normal  offences  which  he  commits,  (b.)  But  the 
parents  of  the  delinquent  when  not  intemper- 
ate are  often  not  moral.  Over  50%  of  the 
parents  show  striking  ethical  weakness.  They 
are  often  negligent  and  stupid,  and  often  cruel 
to  the  children.  Even  when  not  negligent  or 
immoral  they  are  often  markedly  incompetent. 
Only  13%  of  the  parents  of  French  delinquents 
gave  normal  supervision  to  their  children. 
Some,  relatively  few,  train  the  children  to  a 
vicious  or  criminal  life.  And  others  not  crimi- 
nal, incompetent,  or  vicious  have  yet  not 
personality  or  ability  enough  to  cope  with  cir- 
cumstances extraordinarily  unfavorable.  Under 
such  parental  guidance  and  with  such  surround- 
ings, if  a  child  commits  offences  which  are 
morbid  or  degenerate  in  character,  or  if  he 
shows  confirmed  recidivism  we  ought  not  to 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  49 

conclude  that  he  is  therefore  by  nature  either 
morbid,  degenerate  or  criminal.  Also,  because 
the  data  (summarized  on  pages  25,  26)  show  that 
not  more  than  6%  of  the  offences  committed  by 
juveniles  are  even  morbid  or  degenerate  in 
character,  we  may  conclude  that  a  study  of  the 
delinquent  with  respect  to  economic  condition, 
orphanage,  parental,  and  home  conditions  con- 
firms the  thesis  that  at  least  90%  of  court  offend- 
ers are  normal,  and  shows  how  not  only  the 
normal  but  some  of  the  morbid  offences  are  the 
product  of  environment.  It  also  gives  us 
ground  for  believing  that  the  morbid  offenders 
are  not  more  than  5%  of  first  court  delinquents, 
that  some  of  these  5%  of  the  whole  are  insane, 
and  not  more  than  1  or  2%  of  the  whole  can  be 
accurately  called  criminal  by  nature. 

The  need  for  some  definite   classification   of 
malefactors  has  already  appeared  in  the  preced- 
ing.    Before  we  can  answer  the 

The   necessity    for  .  T         .          ,    ,. 

classification;    juve.  question,    Is    the   delinquent  a 

^e^quents  clas-    normal     chiM  ?     we    must     knQW 

which  delinquent  is  meant.    We 
can  not  say  that  the  abnormal  offender  is  or  is 


50  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

not  atavistic  until  we  know  which  abnormal 
child  is  indicated.  There  are  different  kinds  of 
delinquents ;  how  shall  we  classify  them  ? 

Mornay  Williams  divides  them  into  two 
classes :  (1)  the  untrained  cub ;  (2)  the  dull  boy 
made  criminal  by  society's  treatment  of  him.* 

Beyers  observes  two  classes  :  (1)  those  due  to 
neglect  or  incompetence  of  the  home ;  (2)  those 
due  to  incompetence  of  the  State. f 

Julius  M.  Mayer,  justice  of  the  Court  of 
Special  Sessions  in  New  York,  arranges  them 
from  a  different  standpoint,  as  :  (1)  mischievous 
children ;  (2)  delinquents  by  temptation ;  (3)  by 
bad  associates ;  (4)  by  parental  neglect  or  in- 
competency ;  (5)  children  with  criminal  tenden- 
cies, recidivists  with  no  moral  standard ;  (6) 
runaways  and  vagrants ;  (7)  disorderly  and  un- 
governable children;  (8)  children  neglected  or 
abused  by  parents. 

From  France  comes  another  classification  : 

(a.)    Vagabonds  par  temperament. 
(6.)    Vagabonds  par  indolence. 

*"  The  Street  Boy,"  pages  5,  6. 

f  Superintendent  of  the  House  of  Refuge  in  an  interview- 


THE   YOUXG  MALEFACTOR.  51 

(c.)  Vagabonds  par  occasion. 

(d.)  Les  petits  mendicants. 

(e.)  Les  petits  martyrs  (probably  meaning  unfortunates). 

(/.)  Les  petits  prostituees. 

(#.)  Les  petits  voleurs. 

(/&.)  Les  petits  assasins. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  paper  we  may  clas- 
sify the  young  offender  as  follows  : 

(1.)     The  delinquent  by  occasion,  stumbling,  or  chance 

(an  isolated  act). 
(2.)     The   delinquent  by   misfortune  or  destitution  (in 

grave  danger  of  delinquency). 
(3.)     The  delinquent  by  parental  incompetency  (ignorant, 

tactless,  or  vicious  parents). 
(4.)     The  delinquent  by  contracted  habit  (junk  pickers, 

etc.). 
(5.)     The    delinquent     by    unequal    economic    struggle 

(negro  vs.   white ;    immigrant  vs.   native ;   poor 

class  vs.  well  equipped). 

(6.)     The  delinquent  by  effective  environment  (poor  as- 
sociates; poor  oversight). 
(7.)     The   delinquent   by  effective   heredity   (in  narrow 

sense  of  neurotic  tendencies). 
(8.)     The  delinquent  by  congenital  defect  (accident  of 

birth,  etc.). 
(9.)     The  delinquent  by  physical  defect  acquired  (disease 

or  mal-development). 
(10.)  The  delinquent  by  mental  defect  acquired  (disease, 

no  training,  mal-development). 

And   we   may   say   that  all   of  the  first  six 
classes  are  normal  and  not  only  can  be  but  have 


52  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

been  cured  by  present  methods.  Some  of  the 
last  four  classes  are  morbid,  some  degenerate, 
some  insane,  and  perhaps  some  of  these  are 
atavistic  and  criminal  by  nature.  It  is  only  in 
the  relatively  small  number  covered  by  these 
last  four  classes  that  the  stigmata  theory  can  be 
applied,  and  that  application  will  be  studied  in 
Chapter  II. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   CHILD   BORN   CENTURIES    TOO   LATE. 

GENERAL  thesis :  (a.)  The  stigmata  de- 
scribed by  the  Italian  School  are  not  stigmata 
of  crime  or  type  of  crime  but  are  stigmata  of 
degeneracy  or  abnormality,  (b.)  The  "  natural " 
offender  is  not  insane. 

We  have  found  that  there  are  certain  peculi- 
arities among  young  delinquents.  These  in 
summary  of  chap.  first  court  offenders  and  among 
ter  I-  the  inmates  of  the  milder  insti- 

tutions are  surely  in  90%  and  probably  in  98%  of 
cases  only  mal-developments  due  to  poor  nutri- 
tion and  the  like.  As  we  proceed  to  the  study 
of  the  inmates  of  the  sternest  institutions  we 
find  an  increase  of  these  anomalies  which  may 
indicate  natural  criminality  in  some  offenders. 
An  examination  of  the  environment  of  the 
juvenile  shows  that  natural  criminality  is  not  as 
common  as  might  be  supposed.  Still,  there  are 

(53) 


54  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

persons  included  in  the  last  four  classes  given 
on  page  51,  who  may  be  described  as  naturally 
criminal.  And  though  these  do  not  constitute 
more  than  1  or  2%  of  first  court  offenders,  they 
increase  in  number  as  we  deal  with  older  male- 
factors. 

We  now  propose   to   examine   the   convicts, 

especially  those  who  may  be  naturally  criminal, 

The  question  to  be  to  S6e  if  these  peculiarities  are 

treated  in  Chapter  II.    SQ    confine(l     tO     offenders     OS    to 

constitute  marks  of  identification  of  crime  or  of 
types  of  crime.  The  question  then  is,  are  these 
stigmata  of  crime  or  are  they  indications  of 
degeneracy,  occurring  also  among  the  abnormal 
or  insane  who  are  not  criminal? 

The  Italian  School  claims  that  the  criminal, 
and  therefore  by  implication  the  delinquent,  is 

The  claim  of  the  a  person  marked  by  typical  body 
Italian  School.  and  mind  .  that  his  singularities 

(stigmata)  have  a  causative  significance,  an 
evolutionary  or  atavistic  connection,  and  dis- 
cover not  only  the  criminal  but  also  the  type  of 
crime  to  which  he  is  or  will  be  addicted.  It 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  55 

will  put  the  claim  fully  before  us  if  we  look  at 
the  narrative  of  its  rise. 

Very  early  in  history  an  extraordinary  man 
was  thought  to  have  an  unusual  body  —  almost 

Historical  develop-  all  founders  of  religion,  for 
Zry*  tbe  8dgmata  example,  were  supposed  to  have 

(a.)  Hindoo  sources,  superhuman  birth.  An  ugly 
body  was  associated  with  a  bad  man  and  a 
beautiful  body  belonged  to  the  good.  For 
instance,  the  Buddhist  sources  describe  Gau- 
tama so :  "  The  foot  of  Gautama  came  to  the 
ground  as  lightly  as  if  it  had  been  cotton  wool. 
His*  fingers  tapered  gradually  to  the  end.  His 
arms  were  straight  and  so  long  that  without 
bending  he  could  touch  his  knee.  The  hair  on 
his  body  was  smooth,  not  rough  nor  straggling. 
His  body  was  perfectly  straight.  The  upper 
part  of  his  body  was  full  like  that  of  a  lion.  He 
was  sensitive  to  the  slightest  flavor.  He  had 
forty-two  teeth.  The  sole  of  his  feet  touched 
the  ground  at  all  places  alike.  His  nostrils 

*  Spense  Handy,  "  Manual  of  Buddhism,"  page  380.  No  addi- 
tion to  this  is  made  in  either  Burmese,  Chinese  or  Japanese 
descriptions  of  him.  These  nations  rarely  mention  physiological 
singularities. 


56  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

were  high.  His  ears  were  long.  His  tongue 
was  so  long  that  by  putting  it  out  he  could 
touch  his  forehead,  or  the  orifices  of  his  ears." 

Here  is  revealed  what  we  may  call  an  appre- 
ciation of  physical  anomalies,  and  it  is  in  such 
sources  that  the  stigmata  theory  arises.  Lom- 
broso  has  a  volume  on  the  resemblances  of 
genius  and  insanity,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  several  of  the  peculiarities  described  by 
the  Italian  School  as  stigmata  of  crime  are  here 
mentioned  as  characteristics  of  the  Buddha. 
For  example,  long  arms,  hairy  limbs,  abnormal 
dentition  (Buddha  had  forty-two  teeth),  flat- 
footedness  and  long  ears  have  all  been  described 
by  Lombroso  as  stigmata  of  crime.  The  crimi- 
nal's lack  of  sensitiveness  to  flavors  has  also 
been  noted,  and  one  student  has  described  the 
high  nostril  as  a  stigma  of  degeneracy. 

As  far  as  the  writer  discovered  there  are  no 
physical  descriptions  of  Confucius  in  the  classi- 
cs.) Arabian          ca^   literature    and  the  same  is 


sources. 


*•  true  with  regard  to  Mahomet 
and  the  Koran.  Hardly  a  trace  of  the  apprecia- 
tion of  physical  singularity  appears  beyond  the 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  57 

fact  that  female  beauty  is  depicted,  and  inci- 
dentally the  Queen  of  Saba  is  said  to  have  had 
hairy  limbs.*  In  Burton's  "  Arabian  Nights  " 
there  are  some  faint  shadowings  of  such  appre- 
ciation, but  on  the  whole  Mohammedan  sources 
are  silent. 

In  Hebrew   literature    there   are   more  data. 
Ehud,  the  Benjamite  assassin   of   King   Eglon 

(c.)     Hebrew  °^     Moab,    is     described     as     left- 


sources. 


.  handed  ;  Saul  the  hypochondria- 
cal  king  was  also  a  Benjamite.  f  Most  of  the 
savage  men  who  became  outlaws,  the  "lion- 
faced  "  warriors  of  David,  were  Benjamites,  and 
the  fighters  of  this  tribe  are  described  as  ambi- 
dextrous. The  Sodomites,  homosexualists,  were 
of  the  same  tribe,  as  were  also  those  sexual  per- 
verts who  abused  Lot's  concubine  to  death. 
The  ferocity  of  this  horde  is  shown  in  Judges  : 
with  33,000  men  they  beat  combined  Israel 
mustering  400,000  men.  Their  ancestor  Benoni 
was  prematurely  born  by  the  effect  of  sudden 
grief.  Again,  Goliath,  a  "  man  of  great  stature," 

*  Al  Koran,  Chapters  IV.,  XVI.,  XXVIII. 
t  Judges  3:  15.    20:4-8.    1  Sam.  9:1.    IChron.  12:2.    Gen. 
35  :  16-18. 


58  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

"  a  son  of  a  giant,"  had  six  fingers  on  each  hand 
and  six  toes  on  each  foot.  His  sons  were  also 
giants,  and  one  of  them  at  least  had  four  and 
twenty  fingers  and  toes. 

Now  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  left  handed- 
ness,  ambidexterity,  extra  digitation  and  the 
moody  temperament  have  all  been  connected  by 
the  Italian  School  with  the  physical  idiosyn- 
cracies  of  the  offender. 

The  New  Testament,  though  Greek  in  atmos- 
phere, is  not  a  Greek  book.  Not  a  clear  physi- 
(d.)  Greek  ca^  description  of  any  of  its 

sources.  heroeg  or  villains  is  given.  But 
when  we  come  to  Homer  these  abound.  His 
depiction  of  the  obnoxious  Thersites  has  become 
a  classic  in  the  literature  of  stigmata.  "He 
was  the  ugliest  man  who  came  to  Ilion ;  bandy- 
legged, lame  on  one  foot,  his  round  shoulders 
seemed  drawn  together  on  his  chest,  his  head 
moreover  was  pointed "  (keel-shaped),  "  and 
sparse  was  the  wool  that  grew  thereon." 

This  mention  of  the  "  keel-shaped "  head  in 
connection  with  moral  obliquity  is,  perhaps,  the 
first  of  its  kind ;  and  the  "  keel-shaped  "  head 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  59 

has  also  been  called  a  stigma  of  crime  by  the 
Italians. 

But  it  was  not  until  later  that  actual  schools 

of   physiognomists  arise.     Socrates  (469  B.C.) 

(«)  Later  Greek  was  told  by  a  member  of  such  a 

andEuropeaaschooiB.  schooi    that   his   face   indicated 

brutality,  sensuousness,  and  drunkenness.  It  is 
said  that  Socrates  agreed  that  these  were  natural 
tendencies  of  his.  He  declared  also  that  the 
pale  face  and  dark  complexion  of  another  man 
indicated  a  murderer.  Hippocrates  (460-476 
B.C.),  the  celebrated  physician,  makes  the  sur- 
prising statement  that  all  vice  is  the  fruit  of 
madness.  Plato  (429  B.C.)  recognizes  congeni- 
tal tendencies  so  thoroughly  that  he  builds  his 
theory*  of  education  upon  them  and  declares 
that  the  wicked  owe  their  wickedness,  to  their 
physical  organization. 

Aristotle  (348  B.C.),  born  of  a  family  of  great 
physicians,  recognizes  physiognomic  signs  of 
vices  and  crimes,  a  connection  between  shape  of 
head  and  mental  disposition,  as  well  as  the  he- 
reditary character  of  criminal  instincts.  Galen 

*  Republic. 


60  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

(130  A.D.),  following  Aristotle's  views,  inaugu- 
rated the  experimental  study  of  the  brain  and 
pointed  out  the  influence  of  alcoholism  in  the 
production  of  crime. 

During  later  centuries  these  facts  became  so 
generally  known  that  proverbs  appear  like  the 
old  Roman  and  French  sayings,  "From  the 
visage  one  may  know  the  vice."  "  Little  beard 
and  little  color,  there  is  nothing  worse  under 
heaven."  "  Salute  from  afar  the  beardless  man 
and  the  bearded  woman."  Medieval  law  even 
punished  the  uglier  of  two  suspects. 

Dalla  Porta  (16th  century)  laid  scientific  foun- 
dations ;  Gall  (1758-77)  did  much  to  further  this 
study,  though  Cuvier  did  not  accept  his  teach- 
ings. And  rightly  so,  for  Gall  connected  his 
results  with  the  exploded  bubble  of  Phrenology. 
None  the  less,  as  Alchemy  was  the  mother  of 
Chemistry,  so  Phrenology  was  to  Cerebral  Physi- 
ology. 

It  was  in  1859  that  Broca  instituted  the  An- 
thropological Society  at  Paris  and  the  same  year 
Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species "  appeared  with 
the  key  of  evolution  fitting  an  enormous  mass 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  61 

of  data  concerning  the  criminal,  collected  by 
Lombroso  of  Italy.  Lombroso  accepted  Darwin's 
theory  and  made  it  the  basis  of  his  book, 
"  L'uomo  Delinquente."  The  modern  stigmata 
theory  was  fully  launched.  Scores  of  anthro- 
pologists agreed  with  Lombroso,  also  many  dis- 
agreed thoroughly. 

That  is,  we  see  first  the  vague  ideas  of  the 
ancients  that  exceptionally  great  or  bad  men 
summary  of  have  peculiar  bodies.     Then  the 

historical  data.  semi-scientific  men  and  keen 
thinkers  see  some  nearer  connection  between 
physique  and  crime.  Later,  the  physiological 
crirninologist  is  acutely  alive  to  this  factor  and 
searching  to  define  it  more  exactly.  At  last 
the  evolutionary  idea  furnishes  a  key  and  full 
theories  spring  to  life.  These  divide  into  two 
schools:  (1)  The  stigmata  school  applying  to 
the  extreme  the  ideas  of  Darwin,  and  declaring 
that  the  criminal  can  be  discovered  practically 
every  time  by  certain  stigmata ;  that  even  the 
type  of  criminal  can  be  discovered  without  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  any  criminal  act ;  that  these 
stigmata  are  evolutionary  in  significance  and 


62  THE  TOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

the  criminal  atavistic  —  related  physically  and 
psychologically  to  the  savage  and  sub-human. 
(2)  The  more  modern  school,  which  accepts  the 
fact  that  some  criminals  are  anomalous  in  mind 
and  body,  but  are  not  yet  ready  to  say  precisely 
how.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  de- 
scribe more  exactly  the  manner  in  which  these 
singularities  occur. 

This  classification  of  the  malefactor  as  ata- 
vistic, related  to  the  savage  and  sub-human,  is 
The  claim  of  the  based  on  certain  physical  phe- 
£££  ?oCh?LC  nomena  by  which  the  Italian 
crime  by  .tigm»ta.  School  declares  that  he  can  be 
picked  out  from  a  crowd  —  even  before  he  has 
ever  committed  any  crime  —  and  proved  to  be  at 
least  an  incipient  offender.  For  example,  Gara- 
falo  claims  that  if  a  strange  criminal  were  in  a 
crowd  of  strangers  he  could  pick  him  out  by 
these  stigmata  at  the  first  effort  eighty  times 
out  of  a  hundred. 

But  that  is  not  all,  not  merely  do  they  claim 
to  discover  a  criminal  so,  but  even  to  tell  what 
crime  he  has  perpetrated ;  and  if  he  has  not  yet 
committed  an  offence  thev  claim  to  tell  what 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  63 

kind  of  transgression  he  will  be  addicted  to. 
Ferri,  for  example,  gives  a  case  in  which  he 
designated  one  man,  an  absolute  stranger,  from 
several  hundred  strangers  and  accused  him  of 
murder  ;  the  fellow  confessed. 

What   then  are   these   stigmata?     Lombroso 

declares  that  the  "  born  "  criminal  has  project- 

General    stigmata,  ing  ears,  thick  head  hair,  a  thin 

These  stigmata  tabu- 

beard,    projecting     chin,    large 


cheek  bones,  frequent  gesticulation,  and  is  a 
type  of  European  resembling  a  Mongolian. 
Ferri  declares  the  most  marked  feature  of  the 
criminal  skull  to  be  lack  of  symmetry.  He 
finds  three  times  as  many  anomalies  of  skull 
among  criminals  as  among  the  soldiers  of  Italy 
and  considers  five  anomalies  to  be  rare  in  the 
normal  soldier. 

Others  of  this  school  declare  that  crooked 
bony  palates,  abnormal  teeth,  peculiar,  deflected 
or  rectilinear  nose,  excessive  Darwinian  tu- 
bercles, strange  facial  wrinkles,  and  abnormal 
feet  to  be  the  shibboleths  of  the  malefactor. 

Examples  of  those  stigmata  which  betray 
type  of  crime  are  given  as  follows  :  Murderers 


64  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


and    thieves    have   a   decidedly   inferior    head 


Stigmata  of  particu- 

lar  types  of  criminal.  Tarnowskaia  finds  that  female 
thieves  have  decided  defects  of  the  bony  palate, 
and  undeveloped  teeth. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  these  claims 

can  be  tested  with  relative  ease.     It  does  not 

require      technical     skill     and 

A  statement  of  what 

is  necessary,  accord-  knowledge    to    understand     or 

ing  to  this  school,  to 

discover  a  criminal  or    reCOgniZC      theSC      Stigmata.        In 

his  type  of  crime.  -  ~         f   ,  , 

fact  Garafalo  was  not  a  physi- 
cian but  a  jurist  of  Naples.  Anybody  with 
the  ordinary  scientific  training  which  the  Physi- 
ology, Comparative  Anatomy,  and  Biology  of 
college  courses  give  can  test  these  claims. 
Also  no  stripping  of  the  patient  is  necessary  ; 
only  the  head  formation  and  the  feet  and  hands 
need  be  examined.  If  a  person  reveals  five  or 
more  of  the  stigmata  above  mentioned,  he  is  a 
criminal,  according  to  this  claim,  and  if  he 
shows  decided  inferiority  of  head,  say  six  or 
seven  of  the  above  peculiarities,  he  is  a  murderer 
or  a  thief.  If  in  addition  a  woman  has  defective 
bony  palate  and  defective  dentition  in  a  striking 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  65 

way  she  is  a  thief.  In  fact,  one  trained  in  the 
scientific  course  at  a  good  university,  after  a  little 
practice  with  palate  examination,  should  be  able 
to  sit  before  a  crowd  and  pick  out  all  these  stig- 
mata without  asking  a  question.  For  the 
formation  of  the  cheek,  mouth,  and  chin  will  so 
reveal  the  condition  of  palate  and  teeth  that 
one  with  three  weeks'  practice  can  tell  if  the 
bony  palate  be  strikingly  abnormal.  All  the 
other  stigmata  except  feet  and  hands  are  in 
plain  sight. 

If    these   stigmata   are   searched    for  in   the 

normal  population  and  the  percentage  and  ways 

Requirements  of  a  of  occurring  are  tabulated  and 

test\  e  the   same   thing   repeated  with 

(a.)      The    normal 

population  examined,  dependents,  with  the  insane, 
and  with  prisoners  and  juvenile  offenders,  the 
claims  of  the  Italian  School  can  be  thoroughly 
tested.  This  was  done  by  the  writer.  Re- 
peated counts  were  made  among  student  and 
popular  audiences,  with  the  following  results: 
every  single  stigma  mentioned  by  the  Italian 
School  as  typical  of  the  criminal  was  found 
among  ordinary  people.  Some  of  them  were 


66  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

found  in  practically  as  large  a  per  cent  of  cases 
among  the  normal  as  among  the  delinquent 
class  ;  especially  thick  hair  and  abnormality  of 
palate,  for  example.  These  were  found  in  about 
10%  of  cases.  Outstanding  ears  and  defective 
dentition  were  common.  But  it  should  be  said 
that  rarely  were  five  or  more  of  the  above  found 
in  one  person,  and  when  such  combination  was 
found  an  examination  of  the  personal  and 
family  history  revealed  a  peculiarity,  like  insane 
taint,  neurotic  character  or  special  ability  in 
some  lines.  One  example  will  suffice.  A  medi- 
cal student  had  the  high  palate,  the  peculiar 
nose,  thin  beard,  outstanding  ears,  prominent 
cheek  bones,  and  a  peculiar  shaped  head.  The 
medical  staff  pointed  him  out  as  normal  none 
the  less.  An  examination  of  the  family  history 
revealed  relatives  of  his  on  the  list  of  patients 
in  the  insane  asylum  in  which  he  was  working. 
The  writer  had  seen  him  speak  before  a  private 
gathering  of  students  when  he  was  so  markedly 
nervous  as  to  excite  sympathy  among  all  present. 
He  was  also  almost  a  genius  in  Bacteriology. 
In  actual  examination  there  is  always  a  point 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  67 

reached  when  it  is  a  question  as  to  whether  an 
individual  shall  be  classed  as  having  five  of 
these  stigmata.  One  or  two  may  be  there  in 
such  light  form  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
should  be  counted.  But  including  all  who  had 
five  such  anomalies  there  were  not  more  than 
5%  of  the  ordinary  student  and  popular  audi- 
ences who  were  so  tabulated. 

Also,  the  inmates  of  Weathersfield  Prison  in 

Connecticut  and  the  penitentiary  in   Caldwell, 

N.J.,    revealed    similar    results. 

(6.)     Results  of  an 

examination  of  older  There  WaS  Oil  the  whole  a  notice- 
offenders  show  n  o 

Btigmata  of  crime  or  able  increase  of  physical  peculiar- 
ities. The  thick  head  hair,  thin 
beard,  prominent  cheek  bones,  defective  denti- 
tion, and  inferior  head  forms  were  all  more 
common.  In  addition  to  this  was  a  pallor  of 
face,  owing  perhaps  to  confinement,  and  a 
sinister  expression,  perhaps  somewhat  imagined 
by  the  observer.  But  when  an  actual  count 
was  made  of  those  having  five  or  more  of  the 
so-called  stigmata  of  crime  not  more  than  10% 
were  discovered.  That  is,  there  were  twice  as 
many  strikingly  abnormal  heads  among  old 


68  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

prisoners  as  among  the  ordinary  population. 
But  it  should  be  noted  that  there  was  no  proof 
adduced  that  these  were  by  nature  criminal  and 
absolutely  no  proof  that  these  stigmata  occurred 
in  such  a  way  as  to  discover  type  of  crime  with 
even  an  approximate  accuracy.  Such  results, 
differing  radically  as  they  do  from  those  of  the 
Italian  School,  should  be  explicable  before  they 
are  received,  for  the  Italian  anthropologists  are 
among  the  best,  if  not  quite  the  best,  in  the 
world. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Lombroso  worked 
almost  entirely  with  adults  of  one  race,  the 
Italian.  The  writer's  work,  especially  in  New 
Jersey  institutions,  has  enabled  him  to  work 
with  many  Italian  offenders,  as  well  as  with 
almost  every  other  common  race  of  men.  He 
finds  this  true :  Among  the  Italian  criminals 
adults  are  found  who  are  accurately  described 
by  Lombroso,  i.e.,  they  have  asymmetrical  heads, 
thick  hair,  prominent  frontal  eminences,  high 
cheek  bones,  big  facial  angle,  large  orbital 
capacity,  abnormal  facial  hair,  etc.,  and  their 
history  reveals  something  very  like  born  crimi- 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  69 

nality.  They  approach  the  Mongolian  in  ap- 
pearance even  as  Lombroso  claims. 

One  such  man  the  writer  has  in  mind,  a  finely 
built  fellow  full  of  life,  strong  and  alert,  with  a 
ferocious  face,  as  fine  a  set  of  teeth  as  ever  were 
in  a  man's  head,  thirty-two  white,  shining,  even 
teeth,  and  never  a  brush  on  them  in  his  life. 
He  was  a  typical  born  criminal  according  to  the 
Italian  School.  But  he  is  the  only  one  yet 
found  in  an  institution  of  300  inmates. 

Careful  study  leads  the  writer  to  conclude 
that  Lombroso's  claims  are  right  with  a  few 
alterations.  First,  the  Italian  born  criminal 
approaches  this  type  —  but  not  all  criminals,  for 
the  writer  has  not  yet  found  an  Irish,  English 
or  American  criminal  who  came  under  Lom- 
broso's description.  Secondly,  Lombroso's  stig- 
mata will  be  found  in  as  full  a  degree  in  Italian 
insane  as  in  Italian  malefactors.  That  is,  they 
are  marks  of  degeneracy,  not  of  crime  alone. 

The  basis  of  these  peculiarities  is  not  mere 
atavism,  it  is  also  race  aggregation.  The  peculiar 
combination  of  peoples  which  has  produced  the 
Italian  produces,  when  atavism  acts,  the  Mon- 


70  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

goloid  type  •  of  degenerate,  but  when  atavism 
acts  on  other  races  it  produces  a  somewhat 
different  type. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  such  radical  difference 
as  at  first  appears  between  the  conclusions  of 
Lombroso  and  those  of  the  writer. 

These  results  are  ib  essential  agreement  with 
those  published  by  ttye  staff  at  Elmira.  They 
The  result*  found  report  that  though  many  stig- 
mata  ar 


of  Refuge  es-  n  t  in  gu  h  combinations 

.-i-mially    agree    with 

thls-  as  to  indicate  natural  criminals 

or  types  of  crime.  At  Rahway  and  the  House 
of  Refuge  similar  examinations  were  made  by 
the  writer.  Again,  anomalies  were  frequently 
found,  especially  inferiority  and  asymmetry  of 
head  formation.  But  in  not  more  than  8%  or 
10%  of  cases  did  these  occur  in  striking  and 
sinister  combinations,  and  there  was  no  trace  of 
a  betrayal  of  type  of  crime  by  these  stigmata. 
This  was  essentially  the  issue  of  a  study  of 
lighter  offenders  at  George  Junior  Republic  and 
similar  places. 

The  results   found   at   the    Children's  Court 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  71 

have  already  been  stated.*     There  remains  only 
Anthropologists  to  give  the  decisions  of  anthro- 

agree  with  these  re- 
sults, pologists   who   made   especially 

careful  examinations  of  the  juvenile.  No  more 
thorough  search  has  been  made  of  the  lighter 
offender  than  that  of  Hrdlicka,  and  his  conclu- 
sion is  as  follows  : 

"Abnormalities  of  the  palate,  ear,  and  male 
genitals  are  the  most  frequent.  The  variety  of 
irregularities  observed  is  very  great.  But  there 
is  no  one,  nor  any  one  set  of  abnormalities, 
which  runs  through  such  a  number  of  subjects 
that  we  could  consider  it  typical  of  the  asylum 
children  or  of  any  similar  class.  There  is  no 
abnormal  type  of  individuals  in  the  institution ; 
whatever  abnormal  persons  there  may  be  are 
but  exceptions.  We  have  to  deal  here  with  a 
class  of  children  the  large  majority  of  whom,  so 
far  as  physical  abnormalities  are  concerned,  are 
fairly  average  individuals.  There  are  many 
irregularities  in  the  children  which  are  due  to 
neglect  arid  can  and  ought  to  be  corrected.!  A 

*  Pages  8  et  seq.,  Chapter  I. 

fN.Y.J.A.,  forty-seventh  report.    Appendix. 


72  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

small  proportion  of  the  inmates  are  children  of 
unhealthy  parents,  as  a  result  of  which  descend- 
ance they  have  fallen  subject  to  states  of  mal- 
nutrition  or  to  rachitis,  which  have  left  them 
with  numerous  physical  abnormalities.     I  found 
no  single  child  whom  I  could  call  a  degenerate." 
Maupate  of  Paris  has  also  made  a  thorough 
study  of   French   delinquents   with   regard  to 
Maupate  finds  no  stigmata  of  crime.    His  report  i 

atigmaU  of  crime  or 

type  of  crime.  aS  follOWS  : 

(1.)  "Chez  les  enfants  a  mauvais  instincts 
on  peut  trouver  un  certain  nombre  des  deforma- 
tions decrites  par  1'ecole  Italienne,  mais  elles 
existent  dans  un  nombre  de  cas  trop  faible  pour 
qu'on  puisse  les  regarder  comme  characteris- 
tiques." 

(2.)  "  D'ailleurs  les  enfants  *  alienes  pris  dans 
le  meme  mileau  social  presentent  ces  memes 
conformations  dans  une  proportion  identique." 

(3.)  "  II  n'y  a  pas  de  rapport  entre  le  degre 
de  criminalite  et  Fintensite  de  deformations." 

(4.)     "La   co-existence  d'un  certain  nombre 

*"  Recherches  d'anthropologie  criminelle,  chez  1'enfant ;  crim- 
inalite et  degenerescence,"  par  Dr.  L.  Maupate,  page  223. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  73 

de  ces  signes  chez  le  meme  individu,  a  laquelle 
Lombroso  attache  une  certain  importance,  est 
rare." 

(5.)  "  A  plus  forte  raison  n'existe-t-il  pas  une 
conformation  special  du  visage  ou  du  corps  pour 
chaque  variete  de  criminel." 

(6.)  "  II  n'y  a  done  pas  de  type  physiologique 
du  criminelle.  Dans  1'aspect  d'un  criminel  il 
faut  tenir  compte  des  sentiments  que  reflete  sa 
physiognomie,  de  la  race  a  laquelle  il  apparti- 
ent  de  son  degre  de  degenerescence." 

(7.)  "En  general,  ces  enfants  a  mauvaise 
instincts  etaitent  alienes  sont  physiquement  et 
mentalment  des  degeneres  et  1'etude  de  leurs 
antecedents  vient  corroborer  cette  idee." 

(8.)  "Mais  la  degenerescence  physique  et 
mentale  n'est  pas  chez  eux  en  rapport  avec  le 
degre  de  criminalite  ;  n'est  pas  plus  intense  chez 
eux  que  chez  les  enfants  honnetes  et  alienes." 

(9.)  "II  n'existe  pas  done  aucun  stigmate 
regressif  ou  degeneratif  que  nous  permettre  de 
reconnaitre  le  criminel,  et  en  1'internant  des  son 
enfance,  de  prevenir  le  crime." 

In  summary  we  may  say  that  these  so-called 


74  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

stigmata   of  crime   have   been   found  to  some 
A  Bummary  of  the  degree  in  the  normal  population, 

facts     before     Btated    but  in  not  mQre  than  5^  Qf  cages 
leads    to    the  conclu- 

eion  that  the  stigmata  were  they  in  striking  numbers 

described     by     Lorn- 

i-  and   combinations   in  one  mdi- 


mately  accurate  signs        .  ,       ,  ,    .  .      .      ,  .     .  , 

of  crime  or  types  of  vidual.  And  in  such  mdividu- 
als  they  occurred  with  some 
singularity  of  disposition  not  necessarily  crim- 
inal or  morbid.  They  are  found  also  among  the 
older  offenders  in  larger  numbers  and  more 
baneful  combinations,  but  not  in  more  than  10% 
of  cases  do  they  occur  in  strikingly  abnormal 
numbers,  and  in  such  individuals  they  do  not 
occur  so  as  to  indicate  natural  criminality  or 
type  of  crime.  The  same  is  true  to  a  greater 
degree  of  the  milder  offenders,  like  those  of 
Rahway  or  the  House  of  Refuge.  But  when 
we  descend  to  the  inmates  of  the  mildest  insti- 
tutions we  find  the  report  of  Maupate  to  be 
characteristic,  i.e.,  there  are  in  children  with 
bad  instincts  a  certain  number  of  deformations 
described  by  the  Italian  School  as  stigmata  of 
crime,  but  they  do  not  exist  in  such  a  way  as  to 
be  characteristic.  Other  children  of  the  same 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  75 

state,  not  criminal,  present  the  same  deforma- 
tions in  identical  proportion.  There  is  no  rela- 
tion between  the  degree  of  criminality  and  the 
intensity  of  the  stigmata.  The  occurrence  of 
these  stigmata  in  such  combinations  as  Lom- 
broso  describes  is  rare. 

There  is  no  strong  reason  for  supposing  a 
special  conformation  of  physique  to  be  character- 
istic of  a  special  type  of  crime.  There  is  then 
no  physiological  type  of  delinquent. 

In  spite  of  the  strong  supposition  which  these 
data  show  against  the  stigmata  school,  their 

An  examination  of    position      WOUld       not       be       UU- 
the  insane  shows  that      ,        .         ...  „  .,  .. 

the  so-called  stigmata    doubtedly       refuted       UnleSS        it 

£8:r^™  could    be    shown    clearly    that 

criminal  and  therefore  even  jf  the  stiRmata  which  they 
these  peculiarities 

can  not  be  accepted  as  discovered  WCre  found  in  SUCll 
marks  of  crime  or 

types  of  crime.  numbers    and    combinations    as 

they  describe,  they  are  found  in  at  least  as  great 
numbers  and  as  sinister  combinations  in  others 
who  are  not  criminal.  If,  however,  this  can  be 
done,  their  position  becomes  untenable.  The 
realm  of  insanity  offers  the  proof  that  the  so- 
called  stigmata  of  crime  occur  there  in  at  least 


76  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

as  baneful  and  numerous  combinations  as  among 
the  offenders. 

The   State    Insane   Asylum   at    Middletown 

contains  about  1,100  patients.     Most  of  these 

The  inmates  of  con-  were   examined   with  sufficient 

necticut  State  Insane  ,-,  f 

Asylum   Bhow    these    Care     to    note    the    OCCUTience    of 

S£r£Z  8tiemata-  A  hundred  of  them> 

Ister  combination,  as    fifty  men   and  fifty  WOmen,  Were 
the  criminals  of  Lom- 


examined  carefully  by  the  writ- 
er and  the  singularities  tabulated.  With  the 
result  that  every  stigma  save  one  described 
by  the  Italian  School  was  found  there  in  at 
least  as  great  numbers  and  as  sinister  combina- 
tions as  Lombroso  reports  of  the  criminal. 
Projecting  ears,  thick  head  hair,  thin  beard, 
abnormal  hair  on  female  faces,  projecting 
frontal  eminences,  large  jaws,  prognathous  jaws, 
large  cheek  bones,  and  frequent  gesticulations 
were  found  hi  more  than  15%  of  cases.  At  least 
one  stigma  not  mentioned  elsewhere  to  the 
writer's  knowledge  was  discovered,  and  the 
percentage  of  strikingly  abnormal,  grotesque 
heads  was  greater  than  that  observed  in  any 
penal  institution. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  77 

Thick  head  hair  was  found  in  about  14%  of 

cases  examined.     Thin  beard,  especially  in  the 

particular  anomai-  region  extending  from  the  end 


ies  were  found  in  as  Qf  ^  }•  hair  fo  ^  cepliala(J 
large  a  per  cent  of 

cases  as  in  criminals,  angle  of  the  jaw,  was  found  in 
15%  of  cases  at  least,  and  some  of  the  faces  ex- 
amined had  practically  no  beard  (see  appendix, 
Plate  II.).  Projecting  frontal  eminences  oc- 
curred in  about  14%  of  cases  and  sometimes 
very  striking  examples  were  found  (see  appendix, 
Plate  VII.).  The  enormous  jaws  described  by 
Lombroso  were  seen  in  12%  of  cases  and  also 
noteworthy  specimens  of  this  occurred  (see 
Plate  V.,  b).  Projecting  cheek  bones  were  com- 
mon (see  Plate  V.,  b).*  And  the  last  mentioned, 
namely,  frequent  gesticulation,  is  so  ubiquitous 
that  it  would  be  futile  even  to  count  the  percent- 
age. Patients  of  the  excitable  kind  have  gestic- 
ulations of  all  varieties  occurring  sometimes 
the  whole  day  long  and  half  the  night.  Abnor- 
mal hair  on  female  faces  was  found  in  15%  of 
cases  (see  Plate  III.),  and  in  such  a  way  as  to 

*  All  these  sketches  are  as  faithful  and  accurate  as  the  writer 
could  make.     Special  care  was  taken  not  to  exaggerate  anomalies. 


78  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

indicate  to  the  writer  that  this  hair  appears 
often  on  female  faces  about  the  time  of  climac- 
teric. Facial  wrinkles  not  due  to  age  were 
common  (see  Plate  IV.).  Deflected  and  abnor- 
mal noses  are  shown  on  Plates  II.,  III.,  V.,  a, 
VI.,  VII.,  appendix.  These  were  numerous. 
While  abnormal  heads,  heads  with  five  anomal- 
ies, amounted  to  at  least  20%.  Some  of  these 
heads  are  so  grotesque  as  to  be  beyond  descrip- 
tion. Even  photographs  do  not  give  more  than 
a  suggestion.  Take  those  shown  on  Plates  VII., 
appendix;  the  female  head  can  be  likened  to 
nothing  better  than  an  elongated  melon  stand- 
ing vertically  on  the  shoulders.  There  is 
hardly  a  normal  part  to  it.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  male  head,  with  the  exception  that  this  is 
dolichocephalic  to  an  exaggerated  degree,  while 
the  former  is  brachycephalic  to  a  grotesque 
extent. 

Surely  in  the  face  of  such  facts  no  one  can 
accept  fully  the  statement  of  the  Italian  School 
that  an  "  incontestable  inferiority  of  head  forma- 
tion is  characteristic  of  thieves,"  or  that  people 
in  whom  five  or  more  of  the  above  mentioned 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  79 

abnormalities  are  present  must  therefore  be 
criminals. 

Nor  is  the  statement  that  abnormality  of  bony 
palate  betrays  female  thieves  otherwise.  Over 
15%  of  the  palates  of  insane  patients  were 
abnormal  and  the  dentition  was  noticeably 
defective  in  at  least  as  many.  Is  it  not  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  teeth  of  women  thieves 
and  of  insane  patients  would  naturally  be 
defective  when  we  recall  how  much  care  is 
necessary  to  preserve  them  in  the  normal  per- 
son ?  For  example,  whenever  the  inside  of  the 
mouth  of  a  criminal  was  examined  by  the 
writer,  the  following  question  was  asked. 
The  standpoint  of  the  criminal  may  be  seen 
from  the  answer.  "  Did  you  ever  in  your  life 
brush  your  teeth  ?  "  "  No,  —  I  ain't  much  of  a 

sport,  I  just "     (The  blank  was  filled  in  by 

curving  the  index  finger,  opening  the  mouth, 
and  making  a  sweeping  curve  in  the  orifice.) 
The  implication  was  that  he  scooped  the  debris 
from  his  teeth  cavities  by  aid  of  his  long  finger- 
nails or  table  knife.  "  But  this  is  not  a  matter 
of  '  sportiness,'  it  does  n't  make  any  difference 


80  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

about  your  looks ;  it  is  your  digestion  I  am 
thinking  of."  A  surprised  and  incredulous 
expression  follows  and  then  after  further  con- 
versation our  friend  decides  to  clean  his  teeth. 
But  when  he  learns  it  must  be  done  on  rising 
and  retiring  as  well  as  after  every  meal,  he 
weakens,  and  invariably  we  say :  "  Well,  do  it 
before  you  go  to  bed."  Then  comes  the  reply : 
"We  have  no  brush  and  no  powder."  The 
examiner  is  compelled  to  tell  them  to  use  a 
towel  with  a  little  soap,  or  even  the  bare  finger. 
How  in  the  face  of  these  facts  can  we  expect 
criminal  teeth  to  be  good,  when  we  remember 
that  the  slightest  displacement  facilitates  decay 
and  the  loss  of  one  tooth  may  cause  the  rest  to 
grow  crooked  and  even  affect  the  hard  palate  ? 
The  same  is  true  of  the  insane.  Many  examples 
of  abnormal  dentition  were  found,  as  "wolf 
teeth,"  "  syphilitic  teeth,"  and  teeth  out  of  place. 
Picture  a,  Plate  IV.,  reveals  teeth  so  mis- 
placed that  the  lips  could  not  cover  them; 
while  the  female  on  Plate  VII.  had  her  teeth 
arranged  in  two  rows,  one  behind  the  other. 
The  high  "  V-shaped "  palate  and  the  palate 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  81 

with  the  deflected  or  meandering  ridge  line  were 
plentiful ;  so  much  so  that  the  V-shaped  palate 
has  been  called  characteristic  of  the  insane.  It 
occurred  in  15%  at  least  of  the  cases.  A  medical 
friend  and  the  writer  took  wax  imprints,  arranged 
and  photographed  the  plaster  models  of  forty- 
two  palates,  some  of  which  were  not  of  insane 
patients,  in  order  to  compare  them  with  the 
statement  of  the  Italian  School.  We  found 
many  kinds  of  abnormality  present,  some  in 
striking  degree.  Photographs  of  these  palates 
are  given  on  Plate  IX.,  appendix,  and  their 
deviation  from  even  ordinarily  normal  palates 
can  be  seen  by  a  comparison  with  the  three  at 
the  bottom,  which  are  fairly  regular  and  belong 
to  people  not  insane  or  criminal. 

Can  it  then  be  held  without  reserve  that 
defects  in  the  bony  palate  and  teeth,  even  when 
occurring  with  the  other  stigmata,  in  striking 
intensity,  indicate  thieves?  All  the  patients 
whose  photographs  are  given,  which  represent 
about  10%  of  the  whole,  were  so  abnormal  as  to 
catch  the  eye  at  once ;  some  few  of  them  have 
hardly  a  normal  part  to  the  head  and  there  are 


82  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

many  besides  this  10%  who  would  have  more 
than  five  abnormalities.  Is  not  the  claim  of  the 
Italian  School  to  be  received  with  reservation 
therefore  ? 

Not  only  so,  but  one  of  the  stigmata  described 
by  Lombroso  was  not  present  in  10%  of  the  cases, 
either  in  the  offenders  or  in  the  insane ;  that  is 
the  prominent  Darwinian  tubercle.  The  ears 
were  easily  examined,  flapping  ears,  elongated, 
attached  lobes  and  those  described  as  "blood 
ears,"  namely,  the  whole  ear  apparently  swollen 
and  its  parts  thus  contracted  until  the  orifice 
was  almost  closed;  all  these  were  found,  but 
the  Darwinian  tubercle  was  not  found  in  the 
insane  or  in  the  criminal  in  as  prominent  a 
degree  as  in  the  normal  population. 

One  stigma  not  mentioned  by  any  school  to 
the  writer's  knowledge  was  discovered,  namely, 
the  almond-shaped  nostril,  shown  on  Plate  VII., 
appendix.  The  septum  is  not  noticeably  de- 
flected, but  the  ala  are  shortened  and  so  shaped 
that  a  horizontal  lateral  view  reveals  an  almond- 
shaped  orifice  with  the  point  cephalad  or  the 
reverse.  This  was  found  in  at  least  12%  of  cases 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOB.  83 

and  was  accepted  by  some  of  the  physicians  of 
the  staff  as  a  probable  stigma  of  degeneracy. 

There  were  also  strikingly  abnormal  feet  (for  in- 
stance Plate  X.),  feet  having  twelve  toes.  Other 
unusual  defects  were  observed,  as  the  peculiar 
coloring  of  the  face  on  Plate  X.  The  patient 
was  black  and  white,  and  suggested  the  mark- 
ings of  an  animal. 

To  sum  up  this  section  of  the  insane,  all  the 

stigmata   which    Lombroso    and    his    followers 

claimed  to  be  characteristic  of 

Summary  and  con- 
clusion that  the  etig-  the  criminal  have  been  found  in 

mata  of  Lombroso  are 

not  characteristic  of  the  insane,  and  found  there  in 
at  least  as  great  numbers  and 
in  as  sinister  combinations  as  the  Italian  School 
claimed  for  the  offender.  One  stigma,  the  promi- 
nent Darwinian  tubercle,  claimed  as  a  mark  of 
crime  by  this  school,  was  not  found  as  intense 
among  the  insane  or  malefactors  as  in  the  normal 
population.  But  another  not  mentioned  by  the 
Italian  students  was  found  in  the  insane. 

To  gather  up  the  data  under  stigmata  we  find 
that  beginning  with  the  normal  child,  advancing 
through  the  older  normal  person  to  the  youngest 


84  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

and  mildest  offender  and  from  these  through  the 
grades  of  malefactors  up  to  the  oldest  and  most 
deeply  involved,  and  again  from  these  into  the 
realm  of  the  insane,  there  is  on  the  whole  a 
steady  increase  in  the  number  and  sinister  com- 
binations of  physical  anomalies.  The  oldest 
and  deepest  criminal  has  more  stigmata  than 
any  of  the  above  classes  except  the  insane. 
Those  forms  of  insanity  usually  considered  con- 
genital, however,  have  much  more  grotesqueness 
of  physique  than  the  deepest  of  crime.  From 
nature's  standpoint  insanity  of  the  congenital 
kind  is  a  greater  degeneracy  than  the  worst  crime. 

We  may  therefore  conclude  that  if  these 
stigmata  were  found  as  described  by  Lombroso 
they  are  not  characteristic  of  criminals  alone, 
but  probably  of  degeneracy  of  all  kinds. 

Is  the  offender  then  insane?  That  depends 
B.  The  occurrence  upon  what  we  mean  by  the 

of       these     Btigmata 

among    the    insane  term.     In    a    very   true    sense 

raises     the  question,     ..  •  «      ,-• 

is  the  natural  crimi-  there    are    few    men    perfectly 

nal  insane?    And    if  W  jj     somewliat 

we  would  understand 

the  nature   of   delin-    insane      in     spots      and     streaks, 
quency  we  must  an- 
swer this  question,       sometimes  in  whole  areas.     But 

in   the   sense   accepted    by   the    medical   men, 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  85 

accurately  and  not  metaphorically,  is  the  male- 
factor insane  ?  Again  we  repeat,  most  are  not. 
Fully  95%  of  first  court  offenders  are  thoroughly 
sane.  Of  the  residue  some  are  insane  in  the 
accepted  medical  sense ;  they  are  not  the  "  nat- 
ural "  criminals.  Of  the  others,  the  genuine 
criminals,  we  must  hesitate  before  we  answer. 
We  must  not  name  them  insane  without  a 
mental  reservation.  We  must  compare  the 
psychoses  of  each. 

The  subtlety  of   the   insane  taint   is   almost 

incredible  to  laymen.     One  may  know  a  deeply 

The  subtlety  of  the  tainted    person   intimately    for 

insane    taint    is   very 

great.  months    and   never  suspect  his 

insanity,  when  suddenly  it  will  blaze  up  and 
pass  away,  leaving  one  wondering  if  his  eyes 
have  deceived  him.  Even  physicians  are  puz- 
zled. One  patient  escaped  from  an  asylum, 
passed  a  medical  examination,  and  joined  the 
army  without  detection.  A  young  man  in  a 
settlement  club,  led  by  the  writer,  began  to  steal 
and  become  delinquent  in  other  ways.  His 
mother  watched  him  closely,  and  was  convinced 
that  something  was  wrong  with  his  mentality. 


86  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

She  had  him  examined  by  the  family  physicians 
and  others.  All  sniffed  at  the  idea  of  mental 
disturbance  and  said  that  he  was  no  more  insane 
than  they.  The  boy  was  committed  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  expert  alienists  to  an  asylum.  He 
apparently  recovered  from  his  criminal  tenden- 
cies and  was  returned  to  his  parents.  He 
attended  business  for  some  months  and  was  one 
day  sent  home  ill.  He  had  broken  down  ner- 
vously. This  time  there  was  no  criminal  act, 
but  only  the  presence  of  delusions.  There 
seemed  to  be  little  probability  of  recovery,  and 
the  physicians  now  recognize  that  the  outbreak 
of  criminality  was  the  first  stage  of  the  disease. 
In  the  realm  of  epileptic  insanity  even  a  care- 
ful observer  may  be  deceived.  The  writer  has 
studied  in  the  epileptic  ward  and  clearly  recog- 
nized the  existence  of  an  epileptic  temperament, 
i.e.,  one  characterized  by  vagarious  irritability 
and  violence.  For  example,  a  person  may  step 
up  to  a  patient  and  in  the  pleasantest  manner 
say,  "  Good  morning.  It  is  a  nice  day."  At  once 
the  eyes  of  the  patient  blaze  and  a  whistling 
blow  right  from  the  shoulder  follows  forthwith 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  87 

unless  the  experimenter  is  unusually  adept  at 
dodging.  Now  let  this  temperament  occur  in 
veiled  form,  as  it  often  does,  and  the  patient  is 
doomed  to  prison  and  punishment  as  a  criminal. 
The  writer  can  point  out  case  after  case  of  this 
among  his  criminals :  Men  brought  from  the 
cell  in  a  cold  sweat  of  nervousness,  then  refus- 
ing the  politest  and  kindliest  approach,  and 
replying  with  abuse  and  violence  to  courteous 
requests.  They  are  often  described  as  incor- 
rigible, yet  the  touch  of  my  hand  revealed  the 
twitching  nerves,  feverish  blood,  and  general 
physical  condition  of  a  neurotic  patient.  Under 
his  criminal  acts  and  the  cause  of  them  was  the 
insane  taint. 

Notice  this  taint  as  it  is  expressed  in  the 
most  beautiful  of  Oscar  Wilde's  works.  He 
was  sent  to  prison,  yet  he  has  a  taint  of  some- 
thing like  insanity,  and  his  photographs  betray 
stigmata.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Dean  Swift 
and  Swedenborg  after  a  certain  period  of  their 
lives. 

Again,  the  fact  that  crime  and  insanity  may 
result  from  wounds,  toxics,  overstrains,  first 


88  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

stages  of  disease,  and   even   the   upheavals   of 
first  child-bearing,  so  that  both 

The  fact  tha,.  crime 

and   insanity    often  crime  and  insanity  may  run  in 

have  like  sources  has      ... 

wrongly  led  Bome  to  the  line  of  eldest  sons,  these  facts 
have  led  men  to  class  both  as 
essentially  alike.  Yet  there  is  one  obstinate 
fact  which  constantly  arises,  —  if  they  are  both 
the  same,  why  are  not  their  phenomena  iden- 
tical ?  Why  is  one  undoubtedly  crime  and  the 
other  indubitable  insanity  ? 

There  is  often  a  criminal  disposition  in  the 

insane.     They   would   certainly  break   laws   if 

There  is  a  horder.  not  confined.     And  there  is  also 

land  where  both  meet.    an     jnsane       disposition       among 

some  criminals.  Dr.  Richter  proved  that  26- 
28%  of  the  murderers  brought  before  the  bar, 
sentenced  and  punished  for  crime,  were  really 
insane  at  the  time  of  the  criminal  act.  Few 
will  doubt  this  common  borderland  after  reading 
the  bizarre  characters  actually  existing  as 
described  by  Krafft-Ebbing,  persons  to  whom 
coition  with  a  corpse  was  preferable,  men  to 
whom  murder  with  mutilation,  hair  snipping 
and  the  like,  brought  the  same  physical  results 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  89 

that  the  sexual  act  brings  to  the  normal  man. 
Surely  there  is  insanity  there !  But  this  on 
close  study  is  seen  to  be  only  the  juncture  of 
two  neighboring  realms.  There  is  still  a  ques- 
tion when  we  follow  the  diverging  lines  of  crime 
and  insanity. 

Nowhere   do   these  diverging   lines  differ  so 

widely  as  in  the  realm  of  premeditation.     Many 

Premeditation  and  criminologists,     notably     Ferri, 

plot  are  not  sure  sign 

of  crime.  have   asserted    that    premedita- 

tion and  cunning  plot  are  not  infallible  tests  of 
crime.  They  are  not  even  tests  of  sanity.  In 
the  insane  one  will  often  see  premeditation  and 
great  cunning  carried  on  for  months  in  an 
apparently  rational  way.  Much  evidence  of  this 
was  seen  by  the  writer  in  an  asylum.  But  when 
one  studies  the  consummation  of  the  insane  pre- 
meditation and  plot  there  is  almost  always  an 
essential  link  left  out.  Both  remind  one  of  the 
cunning  and  instinct  of  a  fox.  For  when  these 
are  really  matched  against  a  keen  student  and 
sane  man  who  is  putting  his  attention  on  them 
they  fail  utterly.  Any  such  man  who  knows 
his  business  and  puts  all  his  time  and  energy  to 


90  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

capturing  a  fox  will  realize  that  the  realm  of 
Reynard's  cunning  is  limited  and  he  can  be 
caught  with  the  simplest  device.  So  of  the 
criminal  and  the  insane.  They  seem  exceedingly 
cunning  because  they  put  all  their  energy  to 
the  task  and  take  into  account  details  which  the 
ordinary  man  would  not  consider.  But  the 
premeditation  and  cunning  of  the  insane  and 
the  criminal  are  different.  One  is  characterized 
by  an  irrational  taint,  the  other  is  rational  from 
the  criminal's  standpoint. 

In  the  realm  of  physical  and  moral  insensi- 
bility we  find   again   confusions   incident   to   a 
Physical  and  moral  borderland ;  so  that  here  espe- 
i^emibiiuyintheia-  cially     we     find     the     words, 

Bane  are  not  the  same 

a«  in  the  criminal.  «  arrested  development,"  "  crim- 
inal by  nature,"  "  insane,"  "  savage,"  and  "  sub- 
human "  used.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  put 
the  phenomena  close  beside  each  other  and 
differentiate. 

In  every  correctional  institution  of  a  serious 
grade  we  find  more  or  less  physical  and  moral 
lack  of  sensibility.  As  a  sample  of  moral  dul- 
ness  take  the  following :  "  M is  physically 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  91 

very  backward,  was  thirteen  years  old  at  com- 
mittal, but  weighed  only  sixty-one  pounds. 
Was  almost  three  years  old  before  he  was  able  to 
walk.  Forehead  very  small,  lower  jaw  well 
developed,  eyes  unsteady,  front  teeth  decayed, 
is  very  irritable,  and  his  moral  defects  come  out 
under  the  slightest  provocation.  He  has  already 
gone  through  all  stages  of  immorality,  is  very 
untruthful,  is  cruel  to  animals,  and  has  a  tendency 
to  everything  that  is  bad.  Talks  incoherently, 
often  changing  the  subject."  * 

This  reads  almost  exactly  like  a  case  of  in- 
sanity. Again,  another  type  which  shows  any- 
thing but  insanity.  H was  a  pickpocket 

and  thief  with  whom  the  writer  became  well 
acquainted.  His  view  of  life  was  most  interest- 
ing, and  typifies  a  large  number  of  "profes- 
sional "  criminals.  We  were  talking  of  the 

ethics  of  thieving  and  H said :  "  You  are  a 

minister,  another  man  is  a  lawyer,  and  another  a 
judge ;  I  am  a  rustler.  Well,  I  am  as  good  as 
any  of  you,  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  likes  of 
me  you  would  all  be  out  of  a  job."  In  the 

*  Thirty-second  annual  report  of  Newark  City  Home,  page  23. 


92  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

sterner  institutions  the  percentage  of  these  in- 
creases until  it  may  reach,  as  at  Elmira,  34.25% 
who  are  totally  unsusceptible  to  moral  educa- 
tion. Or  again,  as  Speranza  reports,  "  There 
are  children  born  of  orgies,  who  at  a  tender  age 
look  at  suicide  as  a  good  way  out,  juvenile 
alcoholists,  boy  recidivists  at  ten  years  old ; 
boys  and  girls  past  masters  of  crime.  If  you 
say  that  there  is  hope  for  these  you  do  not 
know  them.  They  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  merely  bad."  *  In  the  adult  stage  this 
moral  and  physical  insensibility  is  often  colossal. 
The  malefactor  will  pray  to  God  for  blessing  on 
a  crime.  Of  the  proceeds  of  theft  or  prostitu- 
tion a  part  is  given  to  the  priest  or  church.  In 
danger  and  in  suffering  this  kind  of  offender  is 
often  indifferent  —  walking  miles  on  broken 
ankles,  undergoing  painful  operations  with  no 
sign  of  wincing  and  surviving  ghastly  wounds. 
In  the  insane  we  see  similar  phenomena. 
The  writer  has  watched  patients  who  spent  all 
their  time  in  devotions,  even  quoting  scripture 
by  the  chapter  while  claiming  to  be  queen  of 

*  "  Criminality  in  Children."    Small  pamphlet. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  93 

Heaven,  and  then  attempting  acts  of  violence 
and  obscenity.  They  also  pray  to  God  for 
blessing  on  insane  and  revolting  acts.  In 
danger  they  are  oblivious,  and  in  suffering 
either  supersensitive  or  indifferent.  The  writer 
has  seen  an  insane  patient  undergoing  a  painful 
operation ;  the  patient  was  so  ill  that  he  could 
not  rise  from  the  bed,  and  as  the  instrument 
entered  his  flesh  there  was  barely  a  wince.  In 
answer  to  the  question  as  to  how  he  felt  he 
answered  with  a  vivacious  smile  that  he  was 
all  right,  —  never  felt  better  in  his  life.  This 
conduct  he  kept  up  until  dying. 

In    savages    similar    manifestations    appear. 
Fink  gives  a  volume  of  data  showing  that  while 

Similar  phenomena    they  1OV6  in  O116  SCUSC   that    1OV6 
exist  among    savages     •  -,          • ,-,  -,,  T 

and    semi-civilized    1S     SO     mixed     Wlfch     Cruelty    and 

peoples.  brutality  that  it  can  not  be  called 

love  as  we  understand  it.  The  thesis  of  this 
book  is  that  among  savages  and  semi-civilized 
peoples  there  is  no  such  thing  as  affection  (that 
is,  love  in  our  sense  of  the  term).*  Sir  Samuel 
Baker  after  years  of  acquaintanceawith  African 

* "  Primitive  Love  and   Love  Stories ; "    also    "  The  Albert 
N'yanza  Great  Basin  of  the  Nile,"  etc. 


94  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

savages  says :  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  love  in 
these  countries :  the  feeling  is  not  understood,  nor 
does  it  exist  in  the  shape  in  which  we  under- 
stand it."  With  all  their  religious  ecstacy  the 
savages  are  often  unspeakably  brutal.  The 
very  names  of  their  gods  reveal  the  character  of 
their  religious  concepts :  "  The  Murderer," 
"  The  Human  Brain  Eater,"  etc. 

From  Count  de  Warren's  book,  "British 
India  in  1831,"  there  comes  the  description  of 
the  community  of  Phansegars,  a  religious  and 
economical  society  which  had  existed  for  ages, 
and  one  of  whose  principal  ceremonies  was 
murder.  Its  devotees  were  pledged  to  strangle 
all  that  they  could.* 

Roosevelt  tells  the  same  story  of  brutality 
mixed  with  religion.f  Indeed,  it  is  a  common 
fact  that  religion  and  morality  are  two  entirely 
unconnected  things  in  primitive  religions.  Also 
every  brutality  which  could  be  thought  of  has 
been  connected  with  both  love  and  religion.^ 

*  Quoted  fully  by  Eugene  Sue  in  "  The  Wandering  Jew,"  Vol.  1. 

t "  Winning  of  tbe  West,"  Vol.  1,  page  95. 

J  See  Herbert  Spencer's  "  Synthetic  Philosophy,"  Vol.  l.for  full 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  95 

Another  sample  of  physical  insensibility  is  the 
Maori  who  cut  off  his  toes  to  fit  on  a  new  boot 
offered  him.  In  a  word,  there  is  no  lack  of 
data  to  show  that  the  savage  is  morally  and 
physically  blunted  in  feeling. 

In  another  direction  these  phenomena  are  like 

those  observed  in  children.     Children  believe  in 

similar  phenomena  gods  and  pray  to  these  divinities. 

are  observed  also  in  . 

children.  But  that  is  not  inconsistent  with 

immorality  until  they  are  taught,  "God  does 
not  like  so  and  so."  In  their  affection  they  are 
fickle  and  often  alternate  protestations  of  love 
with  actions  of  rage  or  hate  against  the  beloved. 
They  will  torture  animals  just  to  see  what  will 
happen.  Often  has  the  writer  seen  boys  try  to 
drown  a  snake  or  see  if  its  head  would  snap  off, 
or  gather  a  number  of  snakes  and  roast  them 
alive  to  watch  their  writhing.  Nor  is  it  uncom- 
mon to  see  a  child  hold  a  puppy  by  the  tail  to 
see  if  its  eyes  will  drop  out,  or  stone  cats  or 
dogs  which  belong  to  another,  fighting  bitterly 
if  his  own  are  hurt.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  a 
child  has  any  moral  sensitiveness  until  he  is 
taught,  often  only  by  much  patience,  the  funda- 


96  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

mental  precepts  of  morality.  And  when  one 
considers  the  disvulnerability  of  children  it  is 
surprising  how  much  pain  a  vigorous  youngster 
can  bear.  Operations  which  are  serious  or  fatal 
in  adult  life  can  be  easily  performed  in  infancy. 
The  writer  has  seen  extra  fingers  taken  off  in 
babyhood  with  hardly  a  sign  of  pain.  This 
would  certainly  imply  that  children  do  not 
suffer  as  keenly  as  an  adult  in  the  same  posi- 
tion ;  the  nerves  are  not  fully  awake  and  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  insensibility  results. 

That  is,  the  criminal  is  often  dull  in  response 
to  pain  or  moral  impulses,  and  similar  phenom- 


phenomena  ena  are  observed  in  the  insane, 

are    similar,  but   not 

identical.  in  savages,  and  in  children,  but 

can  we  conclude  that  this  similarity  is  identity  ? 
No,  there  is  one  fundamental  difference  at  least. 
When  there  is  physical  and  moral  insensibility  in 
the  insane  there  is  almost  always  lack  of  physi- 
cal or  nervous  health.  The  blood  is  poor,  the 
digestion  impaired.  But  when  the  criminal  of 
this  class  bears  pain  his  body  is  not  diseased  in 
that  sense.  He  is  more  like  the  savage  and  the 
child.  So,  too,  of  the  moral  obtuseness  of  the 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  97 

insane,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  criminal, 
savage,  and  the  child.  In  the  case  of  the  insane 
it  is  grotesque  and  irrational  to  its  base ;  with 
the  criminal,  the  savage,  and  the  child  it  is  not 
irrational  from  their  standpoint. 

The  natural  criminal  is  more  accurately  under- 
stood as  a  phenomenon  of  atavism.  Few  indeed 
are  they  in  numbers  and  difficult  to  isolate  with 
certainty.  But,  given  the  presence  of  a  sinister 
combination  of  stigmata,  the  fact  of  persistent 
and  degenerate  crime  apparently  for  the  love  of 
it  and  we  may  be  fairly  sure  that  we  have  a 
"  born  "  or  natural  criminal  in  our  hands.  He 
is  as  interesting  as  a  human  tiger  or  ganoid  born 
in  modern  days.  He  is  essentially  a  savage 
irrevocably  bound  to  the  savage  world  by 
physique  and  mind.  The  call  of  the  wild 
always  allures  him,  and  the  blood  thirst  is  part 
of  his  nature.  Living  ages  ago  he  would  have 
made  a  strong  man  for  society  in  the  rough  — 
but  now  he  is  a  child  born  centuries  too  late. 

We  are  now  ready  to  answer  the  question, 
Is  the  "  natural "  criminal  insane  ?  We  have 
found  that  he  possesses  stigmata  identical  with 


98  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

those   of   insanity   and   degeneracy.     There   is 
often  a  criminal    disposition  in 

Summary  and  con- 

elusions.  ••  The  natu.  the  insane,  and  an  insane  dispo- 

ral"   criminal  is  not 

insane  unieea  we  en.  sition  in  the  malefactor.     Crime 

large  our  definition.  .   .  . 

and  insanity  may  result  from  the 
same  causes  and  may  be  transmitted  by  heredity. 
Premeditation  and  plot  occur  in  the  insane  and 
criminal,  but  in  one  it  is  rational,  in  the  other 
irrational.  Physical  and  moral  insensibility 
occur  in  both,  but  in  the  insane  it  is  accompanied 
by  illness  ;  in  the  criminal  it  is  not.  And  when 
this  dulness  occurs  in  savages  and  in  children 
there  is  not  an  attendant  illness.  We  may 
therefore  conclude  that  while  natural  criminality 
has  some  of  the  phenomena  of  insanity  it  differs 
so  much  in  other  ways  that  this  type  of  criminal 
can  not  be  called  insane  unless  we  enlarge  our 
definition  to  include  persons  who,  while  irregu- 
lar in  exterior  physique,  are  yet  rational  enough 
though  on  a  low  moral  basis. 

We  may  also  conclude  from  the  data  above 
summarized  that  the  stigmata  named  by  the 
Italian  School  as  marks  of  crime  and  type  of 
crime  are  not  such,  but  only  stigmata  of  de- 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  99 

generacy  or  abnormality.  Given  these  alone  we 
could  not  tell  surely  that  their  possessor  was  a 
criminal;  nor  could  we  tell  his  type  of  crime. 
But  given  these  and  the  fact  of  crime  we  might 
well  infer  that  the  offender  was,  if  not  insane  or 
morbid,  a  u  natural "  criminal,  and  thus  know 
better  what  to  do  with  him. 

Before  there  can  be  any  sound  claim  to 
stigmata  of  criminality  or  type  of  crime,  these 
"natural"  criminals  must  be  isolated,  their 
external  anomalies  reclassified  and  then  in 
addition  some  more  subtle  abnormalities,  such 
as  condition  of  blood,  soundness  of  mind,  dif- 
ferentiation of  congenital  abnormalities  from 
those  caused  by  such  things  as  adenoid  growths, 
mouth  breathing,  mal-occlusion  or  extraction  of 
teeth  and  the  like,  must  be  found  to  classify 
them.  Until  such  things  are  done  it  will  seem 
unwise  to  put  much  emphasis  on  the  general 
theory  of  Lombroso  in  the  treatment  of  the 
delinquent. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE     OCTOPUS    WHOSE    ARMS    BEACH    EVERY- 
WHERE. 

THE    more   one   studies   an   actual    case    of 

delinquency  the   more   difficult  it  becomes  to 

The    difficulty   of  isolate  a  concrete  and  sufficient 

Isolating   a   sufficient 

cause.  cause.     Suppose    the    child    is 

convicted  of  theft.  A  search  reveals  poverty 
which  incited  the  theft;  then  illness  or  mis- 
fortune which  caused  poverty.  But  underneath 
this  was  a  poor  physique  always  susceptible  to 
illness.  Beyond  the  physical  were  perhaps  bad 
habits  causing  this  state,  and  finally  great  lack 
of  training,  initiative  and  oversight  on  the  part 
of  the  parents  which  allowed  incipient  illness 
and  weakness  of  will  to  spoil  the  boy  who  could 
have  been  saved  by  wise  oversight.  This  is  a 
comparatively  simple  case,  yet  it  is  not  easy  to 
give  one  cause,  for  if  the  boy  had  had  sufficient 


(100) 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  101 

calibre  he  could  have  dominated  his  circum- 
stances at  every  point. 

It  would  take  a  volume  on  the  psychological 

phases   of  heredity,   will,    and   environment  to 

The    three    great  trace    the    operation    of    these 

factors  at  the  root  of 

delinquency.  three  great  factors  as  they  cause 

offences,  for  the  further  back  we  go  the  more 
clear  it  becomes  that  delinquency  has  its  rise  in 
the  sub-normal,  abnormal,  or  renitant  factors  of 
will,  heredity,  and  environment.  In  any  con- 
crete subject  it  is  impossible  to  tell  exactly  what 
part  these  three  factors  have  played.  We  can  only 
say  here  that  in  every  case  of  delinquency  there 
is  something  wrong  with  will,  or  heredity,  or 
environment,  or  all  three. 

Suppose   for   purposes    of    clearer   study   we 

arrange  under  will,  all  individual  causes  ;  under 

The  need  of  an  out-  heredity,  dispositional  and  phys- 

line    of    causes;    out- 
line, iological  causes  ;  under  environ- 
ment, all  economic,  social,  and  physical  causes. 
We   shall   then   have  an   outline   for   practical 
study  as  follows  : 


102 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


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VII 
(a.)  The  incompetent  1 

^-X^-x^-x                ^^*X"S-—  X           *~*S~\                *~*S~*S~\      »...«. 

5s^    se~s  s^    see. 

THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  103 

The  first  six  captions  will  be  set  forth  largely 
without  indicating  their  bearing  on  the  home, 
until  in  the  summary  the  data  will  be  used  to 
introduce  caption  VII. 

It  can  not  be  claimed  that  this  outline  is  in 
strict  accord  with  facts.  For  example,  not  all 
dispositional  causes  are  due  to  heredity  alone, 
and  not  all  bad  habits  are  due  to  weak  will 
alone.  Also,  it  is  often  a  matter  of  choice 
whether  to  include  a  cause  under  social  or 
economic  captions,  as  for  instance  immigration. 
Almost  all  social  causes  are  economic  in  impulse, 
or  are  colored  by  economic  conditions.  But 
taking  this  as  a  working  plan  to  get  the  field 
before  us  let  us  begin  with  the  more  remote 
forces,  those  included  under  the  caption  "  Physi- 
cal Causes." 

I.       PHYSICAL    CAUSES    OF    DELINQUENCY. 

The   territory  of   feuds   and   moonshining  is 

always  isolated.     It  is  in  the  secluded  mountain 

regions  that  the  still  is  operated. 

(a.)     Geographical. 

Why?     Corn  will  bring  at  the 
distant  market  about  a  dollar  a  bushel.     But  to 


104  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

get  this  it  must  be  carted  over  miles  of  rough 
road.  The  people  of  these  regions  are  so  poor 
that  very  few  have  horses  ;  the  corn  must  be 
carried  on  the  backs  of  men  sometimes  ten  or 
fifteen  miles.  Supplies  and  medicines  must 
come  over  the  same  roads.  Physicians  are 
almost  unknown.  Now  if  corn  can  be  trans- 
formed into  whiskey  it  becomes  a  common 
medium  of  exchange,  taking  the  place  of  money. 
It  is  more  easily  transported,  and  it  forms  the 
chief  medicine  of  the  locality.  To  get  the  corn 
in  the  shape  of  whiskey  the  whole  family  is  put 
on  the  side  of  lawlessness  and  the  children 
taught  to  believe  that  they  have  a  right  to 
violate  the  license  law  at  least.  Perhaps  they 
are  right  and  the  law  here  unjust,  but  the  fact 
is,  delinquency  is  caused  among  an  otherwise 
honest  and  hard-working  people  largely  by  the 
accident  of  isolated  geographical  position. 

Much   the  same  is  true  of  the  feud  region. 

This    form   of   violence    flourishes    in   isolated 

(a.)    Geographical  places   where   life   is    stagnant. 

causes  in  the  land  of 

feuds.  Ancient    insults   are    treasured 

from   generation   to   generation ;    children    too 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  105 

young  to  understand  the  insult  are  trained  to 
kill.  Not  only  so,  but  the  atmosphere  of  such 
places  is  usually  one  of  ignorance,  petty  loafing 
and  shiftlessness,  which  is  very  favorable  to 
delinquency.  Do  but  open  up  the  locality  to 
fresh  currents  of  life,  by  means  of  a  good  road, 
telegraph,  telephone,  or  railroad,  and  the  whole 
is  changed  by  mobility  of  population,  new 
interests,  and  obliteration  of  old  ruts. 

Isolated  pleasure  resorts  bring  their  flood  of  a 

temporary     population.      This     often     induces 

also  a   number  of   "catch  pen- 

(a.)    2.    Geographi- 
cal causes  in  the  iso-  nies,"  "  fakirs,"  and  the  like,  so 

lated  pleasure  resort, 

the  military  station,  that  even  when  the  place  is  a 
remote  fishing  village  the  legacy 
left  by  the  summer  visitors  is  bad.  Some  of 
these  villages  in  the  Adirondacks,  White  Moun- 
tains, or  near  Greenwood  Lake,  for  instance,  are 
so  bad  that,  as  one  sociologist  put  it,  "  The  only 
cure  would  be  to  set  fire  to  the  whole  village 
and  drive  the  inmates  like  vermin  from  their 
holes." 

Military  and   naval   stations   are   chosen  for 
their    geographical     situation.     Around     them 


106  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

spring  the  low  saloon  and  dive.  In  such  places 
crime  is  always  high  and  where  crime  is  high 
delinquency  is  high  also. 

Disconnected  as  it  seems  at  first  sight,  climate 

as   well  as  temperature   have  causative  factors 

(&.)  ciimatc  and       in  delinquency.     Krafft-Ebbing, 

(c.)  Temperature  as 
causes  of  delinquency.     Ellis,     and       Othei'S       show       that 

offences  tend  to  rise  with  the  thermometer. 
Most  rebellions  have  taken  place  in  the  hot 
months.  In  a  warm  climate  puberty  comes 
earlier,  and  thus  brings  its  turmoil  on  a  child 
less  mature.  Climate  will  change  the  mod- 
erate drinker  of  Europe  to  a  drunkard  when  he 
comes  to  America  with  its  extremes  of  tem- 
perature, which  force  men  to  do  a  year's  work 
in  nine  months,  and  thus  set  the  famed  and 
nervous  pace  to  which  we  are  accustomed. 

II.       SOCIAL    CAUSES. 

There  is  in  society  an  upward  impulse  which 
has   elevated  some   peoples   above  the  savage. 

Social  factors  caus-    Customs     which    Were     OnC6    lin- 
ing delinquency. 

(a.)  social  progress,  written  and  vaguely  recognized 
have   become    definitely  crystallized   into   laws 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  107 

and  statutes.  As  a  society  increases  in  civiliza- 
tion these  laws  become  more  complex,  and 
when  men  gather  in  centres  of  population 
many  statutes  which  did  not  seem  necessary 
before  are  now  imperative.  The  progress  of 
society,  in  a  word,  results  in  at  least  increased 
number  and  complexity  of  laws.  Each  child 
must  adjust  himself  so  that  he  avoids  all  break- 
ing of  law  or  he  becomes  a  delinquent.  This 
developed  law  system  covers  every  part  of  the 
ordinary  life  and  unless  a  child  is  well  balanced 
or  well  shielded  he  comes  in  opposition  to  the 
law  at  some  point.  With  one  the  weakness 
may  be  sex  immorality;  another  finds  it  hard 
to  be  sufficiently  honest ;  another  can  not  bear 
to  be  held  down  to  regular  school  work,  and  he 
therefore  becomes  truant  and  a  little  vagrant. 
Still  others  have  a  quarrelsome  or  violent  tem- 
perament, or  again  it  is  a  weak  will  that  can 
"  resist  anything  but  temptation."  Each  child 
passes  through  a  period  of  immaturity  when  he 
is  very  apt  to  clash  with  the  rights  of  others. 
He  can  not  accommodate  himself  to  this  devel- 
oped social  code.  Often  he  does  not  even  under- 


108  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

stand  what  it  forbids.  Many  children  come 
before  the  court  and  the  charge  has  to  be  care- 
fully explained  to  them.  Instead  of  asking  a 
child  whether  he  is  guilty  or  not  the  judge 
usually  says,  after  explanation,  "Did  you  do 
that?"  With  simpler  codes  and  a  less  devel- 
oped or  complete  system  the  child  would  escape, 
but  the  standard,  through  social  progress,  has 
become  relatively  so  high  that  it  needs  training 
to  bring  a  child  up  to  it. 

Few  people  realize  the  amount  of  waste  the 
raising  of  such  a  standard  involves.  The  Pall 

(6.)    Social  machln-    Mal1       G*™tte      &™        150,000 

ery  produces  deiin-  officially    registered    insane    in 

quency  aa  a  by-prod- 

uct-  Britain  and  calculates   100,000 

more  not  registered  because  they  can  afford 
private  treatment.*  There  were  6,000  registered 
insane  in  New  Jersey  alone  and  4,000  under 
private  treatment.! 

In  the  232  children's  agencies  of  New  York 
there  are  40,000  juveniles  dependent  on  these 
institutions  for  parent  and  home.  In  1893 

*  "  Is  Co-operation  among  Charities  Desirable  ?"    C.  M.  Kellog, 
pamphlet, 
f  "  Address  of  Commissioner  Wight,"  Newark,  December,  1905. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  109 

there  were  40,000  prostitutes  in  New  York  City 
alone  and  that  means  (five  fallen  men  to  one 
fallen  woman)  200,000  men  in  and  about  New 
York  who  habitually  visit  these.  We  have  in 
America,  as  well  as  in  foreign  lands,  criminal 
societies,  like  Maffia  and  Mana  Nigra, —  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  criminals  and  borderlanders 
and  paupers.  There  are  250,000  people  in  the 
United  States  alone  making  their  living  in 
part  at  least  from  crime,  and  82,329  living 
behind  prison  bars. 

All  this  is  just  as  much  a  by-product  of  our 
social  machinery  as  the  noxious  odor  is  of  a 
tannery.  The  juvenile  is  subjected  to  the  influ- 
ences which  cause  this  waste,  and  the  result  is 
that  20%  of  the  boys  living  in  American  cities 
become  delinquent  between  the  ages  of  ten  and 
fifteen. 

The  State  is  often  as  incompetent  as  the 
worst  parents  in  its  dealings 

(c.)    Defective  cor- 

regional  institutions  with  the  young  offender.     This, 

fail  to  prevent  some, 

and  increase  other  de-  when  we  remember   that  some 

linquencies.  .          .     .         .       1 

parents   train  their  children  to 
crime,   seems    like    rhetorical   language.      But 


110  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

many  of  the  men  most  closely  in  touch  with 
correctional  methods  will  agree  to  the  state- 
ment that  the  State  is  manufacturing  criminals 
as  fast  as  it  can  with  its  limitations,  i.e.,  it  must 
not  avowedly  or  meaningly  go  into  the  criminal- 
making  profession.  Notice  the  treatment  of 
some  offenders.  For  example,  it  is  a  common 
thing  to  have  prisoners  brought  out  of  the  cell  for 
anthropological  examination.  Trembling  not 
with  fear  but  with  nervousness  induced  by  the 
cell  life,  hands  clammy,  muscles  twitching,  here 
is  a  man  on  the  verge  of  collapse.  Let  a  sud- 
den or  strange  noise  occur  in  the  prison  and 
these  men  jump  like  frightened  rabbits  and  are 
almost  in  panic.  Breath  disordered,  teeth  un- 
cleaned,  hands  stained  by  nicotine  —  a  man 
going  to  rot  for  sheer  lack  of  a  human  activity. 
He  wants  the  work  and  gladly  does  anything 
for  a  diversion.  Sometimes  it  is  a  German 
peasant,  with  frank  blue  eyes  and  honest  face. 
He  drank  a  little  too  much  and  was  gathered  in 
with  the  "  common  drunks  "  and  sent  here  for 
thirty  days.  He  tells  you  that  in  all  his  life  he 
never  was  arrested  before,  and  almost  heart- 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  Ill 

broken  he  goes  to  the  cell.  Come  now  after 
twenty  days  or  so  and  you  find  your  man 
changed.  The  prison  look  is  on  him,  he  no 
longer  meets  your  eye  frankly.  He  has  learned 
that  there  are  hundreds  here  and  it  is  not  so 
bad  after  all.  He  has  heard  the  call  of  the  low 
and  been  forced  to  listen  to  it  day  and  night. 
It  will  ring  in  his  ears  now  for  all  his  life 
and  when  he  would  forget  it  some  ignorant 
person  says  "  jail  bird,"  and  he  remembers 
again. 

In  the  police  courts  it  is  not  an  uncommon 

sight  to  see  the  court  room  so  crowded   with 

children  that  there  is  not  enough 

(c.)  1.  Police  courts.  .  . 

time  to  finish  their  cases  that 
day.  Yet  this  is  attempted.  In  five  minutes 
the  decision  is  made  which  starts  the  child  on  a 
new  career.  If  he  has  a  clever  counsel  he  gets 
off,  for  the  judge  is  too  busy  to  hunt  up  all  the 
details.  It  takes  at  least  all  afternoon  to  exam- 
ine ten  men  for  anthropological  data.  Yet  the 
writer  has  seen  over  eighty  cases  of  children  de- 
cided by  a  judge  in  one  session  of  the  court  lasting 
from  9  A.M.  to  2  P.M.  No  careful  student  would 


112  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

think  of  classifying  a  case  in  ten  minutes,  and 
yet  this  judge  decides  the  fate  of  a  boy's  whole 
existence  and  does  it  with  less  time  and  atten- 
tion than  the  ordinary  woman  takes  to  buy  a 
roll  of  wall-paper  for  her  house.  Sometimes 
the  court  officials  bandy  the  boy  about  his 
toughness  while  the  busy  judge  is  reading  a 
brief  note  of  what  the  offender  has  done.  Sev- 
eral times  the  writer  has  seen  the  judge  decide 
to  commit  the  child,  the  parents  sob  and  the 
whole  decision  reversed.  There  is  often  not  a 
fraction  of  the  time  necessary  given  for  an 
understanding  of  the  case. 

Often  a  boy  of  sixteen  is  jailed  with  deeply 
involved  criminals  and  kept  there  in  idleness 

(c.)2.    Jails  for  ju-    and      dirt     Until      trlal>     and     the 

vemiea.  ^me  o£  deiay  fg  sometimes  made 

as  long  as  convenient  because  the  jailer  gets  a 
per  capita  per  diem  wage  for  all  his  wards. 
One  of  the  boys  from  a  club  superintended  by 
the  writer  disappeared  for  about  two  weeks. 
He  was  found  in  jail.  During  this  period  he  had 
had  no  change  of  clothing.  He  was  dirty  and 
had  been  kept  with  deeper  criminals.  His 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  113 

mother,  a  widow  and  a  foreigner,  wept  and 
asked  what  she  could  do. 

These  jails  are  almost  always  poor,  and  some- 
times justly  described  in  the  words  of  Commis- 
sioner Wight,  of  New  Jersey,  as  "foul  holes 
breeding  crime."  In  Ohio  a  committee  headed 
by  the  Governor  reported,  "  with  less  than  half 
a  dozen  exceptions  every  jail  in  Ohio  is  a  moral 
pest  house  and  a  school  of  crime."  The  proba- 
tion officer  of  Essex  County,  N.J.,  says : 
"  Jails  are  an  acknowledged  school  of  crime." 

The  writer  knows  of  a  jail  in  a  town  of  Ver- 
mont. It  is  built  in  circular  shape  and  revolves 
on  a  pivot,  for  all  the  world  like  a  squirrel 
wheel  stood  on  end.  The  idea  of  this  wonder- 
ful Yankee  invention  is  safety,  to  keep  the  men 
there.  For  only  as  the  bars  come  opposite  the 
exact  spot  can  the  prisoners  get  out.  No  lever 
can  be  used  and  no  saw.  Here  the  men  lie  and 
rot  in  this  revolving  cage  with  neither  work  nor 
exercise  nor  education.  Certainly  it  succeeds 
far  better  than  the  inventor  dreamed.  For  it 
will  not  only  keep  the  men  safely  there  but 
bring  them  back,  regularly,  each  time  more 


114  THE  TOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

easily  kept.  Judge  Lindsey  says  that  even  if 
jails,  prisons,  and  criminal  courts  are  all  right 
for  adults  they  are  "  monstrous  for  children." 

But  prisons  are  not  all  right  even  for  adults ; 
their  influence  extends  to  juveniles  most  directly. 
(C )  s  priBonB  are  Hardly  any  man  in  a  position  to 
always  bad.  judge  broadly  has  a  good  word 

for  prisons.  Russian  prisons  are  described  as 
*'  crime  breeders  "  by  Ellis,  Dostoieffsky,  Max- 
inoff,  and  Tolstoi. 

Spanish  institutions  of  this  class  are  reported 
"  filthy,  overcrowded  sewers  of  crime."  Moroc- 
can prisons  are  "  places  of  oppression,  starvation, 
and  filth." 

Of  French  prisons  Krapotkine  says :  "  They 
are  the  real  cause  of  recidivism  and  they  are  the 
nests  of  criminal  infection.  It  is  a  greater 
crime  to  lock  up  one  hundred  boys  there  than 
the  offences  for  which  they  were  committed." 
Laloue,  inspector  general  of  French  prisons,  says, 
"with  our  existing  conditions  twenty-four  hours 
of  imprisonment  suffices,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, to  ruin  a  man."  Emile  Gauthier,  a 
friend  of  Krapotkine,  calls  prison  "  a  sewer  and 


THE   YOUNG  NALEFACTOE.  115 

hot-bed  of  vice."  Reinach,  in  ule  recidiviste," 
and  Panal  Aubrey  agree.  In  Italy  Colajanni 
and  Ferri  use  stronger  words.  Adolphe  Prins, 
inspector  general  of  Belgian  prisons,  has  the 
same  story  to  tell  and  English  criminologists 
repeat  it  as  true  of  their  institutions.*  Michael 
Davitt,  for  example,  characterizes  them  as 
"  having  no  sensitiveness,  no  discrimination,  and 
as  reducing  the  prisoner  to  a  disciplined  brute." 
Everywhere  the  report  is  essentially  the  same. 

Yet  we  must  not  misunderstand.  One  of  the 
best  and  latest  descriptions  of  European  prisons 
shows  a  big  advance. f  We  have  much  to 
learn  from  them  in  certain  lines.  Still,  this 
should  be  recognized  clearly,  a  good  prison 
building  does  not  make  a  good  prison,  but 
even,  possibly,  a  bad  one. 

In  America  we  have  some  of  the  best  prison 
buildings  in  the  world,  and  although  a  few  are 
filthy  and  bad,  yet  on  the  whole  the  property  is 
well  kept  and  well  run.  But  the  prisoner 
remains  the  same  and  the  prison  influence  is  the 

*  "  The  Criminal,"  pajrc  239. 

t"  European    Prisons,"  by  Samuel  Barrows,    "Charities   and 
The  Commons,"  Dec.  7,  1907. 


116  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

same.  At  Caldwell  Penitentiary  the  writer  has 
watched  results  for  three  years,  no  report  being 
published.  And  from  all  the  sources  at  his 
command  he  can  not  find  twenty  prisoners 
redeemed  in  the  history  of  the  institution.  At 
the  expiration  of  the  term  some  of  them  ask 
the  warden  to  reserve  a  place  for  them,  as  they 
are  coming  back.  They  like  the  atmosphere 
and  they  are  in  better  circumstances  there  than 
when  working  in  freedom  for  wages.  When 
released  they  go  on  a  criminal  debauch  and 
commit  rape  or  steal  something  they  like  as  a 
pleasant  way  of  returning  when  they  are 
tired  of  earning  their  living  and  when  winter 
makes  it  less  convenient  to  live  the  loafer's 
life. 

Just  as  a  weak  parent  alternates  foolish 
indulgence  with  petty  anger,  so  the  prisons  treat 
the  malefactor.  At  the  state  prison  in  Weathers- 
field  the  writer  was  shown  to  a  subterranean 
dungeon  absolutely  without  light  or  sound. 
The  floor  and  walls  were  of  cement.  In  the 
wall  was  fixed  an  iron  ring ;  in  one  corner  was 
a  bench  made  of  two  by  six  inch  hardwood 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  117 

planks  fastened  with  six-inch  spikes.  A  pris- 
oner, for  disobedience,  was  chained  to  the  ring 
and  thus  held  in  a  standing  position  by  the 
manacled  wrists  during  the  day.  At  night  he 
was  allowed  to  sit  on  the  bench.  His  food  was 
bread  and  water.  Seeing  a  hole  gnawed  in  the 
plank  I  asked  the  cause.  The  prisoner,  driven 
almost  to  madness  by  his  treatment,  had  gnawed 
out  one  of  the  spikes,  swallowed  the  chips, 
sharpened  the  spike  on  the  floor  and  almost 
succeeded  in  murdering  his  keeper.  Convicts 
are  fed,  but  they  have  no  uplifting  impulse,  no 
education,  no  work  to  train  them,  no  drills 
except  the  lock  step  to  and  from  cell.  What 
result  can  come  of  locking  an  ignorant  and 
vicious  man  in  a  prison  with  others  of  his  kind 
to  communicate  with,  and  then  simply  watching 
him,  rifle  in  hand  ? 

It  is  a  common  thing  to  see  the  definite  term 

system  likened  to  sending  a  person  to  the  hospi- 

(C.)  4.  The  definite  tal  f  or  six  weeks  and  then  turn- 

and  short  terms  deep- 
en criminality.  ing  him  out  whether  cured  or  not. 

Annie  Tighe,  of  Newark,  for  example,  has  been 
sentenced  sixty  times  in  the  same  police  court. 


118  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

At  Caldwell  Penitentiary  the  warden  pointed 
out  convicts  who  had  been  there  dozens  of 
times.  In  one  case  over  a  hundred  separate 
committals  were  alleged.  Make  a  table  of  the 
number  sentenced  and  the  terms  given ;  it  will 
tend  to  run  in  multiples  of  threes  and  fives. 
There  will  be  six  or  seven  times  as  many  sen- 
tenced for  five  years  as  for  four  and  so  on  up 
the  scale,  showing  the  lack  of  rational  method 
in  sentence.  The  judge  must  pronounce  some 
sentence  within  the  limit  of  the  law.  His  mind 
runs  in  threes  and  fives.  A  year  or  two  more 
or  less  makes  no  difference  —  to  the  judge. 
But  it  makes  the  youth  a  confirmed  criminal 
and  sets  before  the  strongest  and  weakest  of 
them  the  enormous  task  of  living  down  a  year 
of  prison  life. 

Even  children  are  sent  to  the  lighter  institu- 
tions for  twenty-four  hours  "  to  frighten  them." 
They  were  not  frightened,  but  were  introduced 
to  criminal  life.* 

Sometimes  a  mother  with  a  baby  is  sent  to 
prison.  Again  the  husband  or  bread-winner  is 

*  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  1'eport  1903.  page  17. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  119 

sent  and  the  wife  left  to  do  the  best  she  can  for 
.  the    family.     If    the    husband 
could   work   at   something   and 

delinquency.  gend  money  ^ome  ft  would  not  b0 

so  bad,  but  he  is  there  rotting  in  idleness  while 
his  wife  and  family  get  along  as  best  they  can. 
In  one  case  the  writer  found  a  man,  probably 
innocent,  who  had  been  in  prison  for  three 
years.  His  wife  and  family  were  kept  from 
starvation  only  by  the  efforts  of  friends. 

The  poor  farm  is  often  inhabited  not  only  by 

aged   paupers,  but   by   the   mildly  insane,  and 

sometimes     it    is   also    a   place 

(c.)      6.      As    does 

also  the  placing  of  where  tramps  and   beggars   are 

children  with  paupers 

and  tramps  in  the  poor  sent   temporarily.     There  is  no 
separation  for  these  classes.   And 
the  writer  has  seen  babies  and  children  commit- 
ted with  the  parents.     The  result  is  often  a  life 
of  dependency  or  delinquency  for  the  infants. 
Even  when  the  State  means  to  be  particularly 
(c.)    7.    Unwise  kind  to  its  ward,  lack  of   care 

State     philanthropy  ,-,  -,  .  ,         ,       , 

also  causes  del  in.  causes    the   results    to   be   bad. 
For  example,  the  blind  and  de- 
crepit are  given  permission  to   beg   under   the 


120  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

guise  of  pencil-selling  or  music-playing.  Apart 
from  the  harm  done  the  adult,  the  evil  of  allow- 
ing him  to  work  at  uncongenial  and  worse  than 
useless  labor  when  he  might  be  occupied  with 
something  upbuilding,  there  is  the  child  who 
almost  always  accompanies  the  mendicant. 
Could  there  be  a  better  way  of  initiating  this 
youth  to  a  life  of  mendicancy  and  delinquency? 
Not  seldom  defectives  in  asylums  and  poor  farms 
are  encouraged  to  marry  that  they  may  have 
"the  comforts  of  a  home."  The  result  is  a 
brood  of  degenerate  and  ill-kept  children  to 
swell  the  ranks  of  delinquency. 

In  case  a  boy  is  sent  to  a  "  reformatory  "  it  is 

largely  chance  if  his  lot  falls  in  a  really  good 

(c.)    s.    Reforma.  environment.     No   matter    how 

tories  have  crime- 

breeding  factors.  well  equipped  such  an  institu- 
tion  may  be,  and  no  matter  how  well  intentioned 
the  superintendent,  if  that  overseer  has  not  a 
personality  amounting  to  genius  the  reformatory 
will  be  a  vast  machine  which,  though  it  per- 
manently cure  50%  of  those  who  ought  not  to  be 
there,  will  unfailingly  brand  and  deepen  the  rest 
in  delinquent  life.  It  puts  on  them  the  institu- 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  121 

tion  stamp  and  the  criminal  brand  so  widely 
recognized. 

In  every  correctional  and  eleemosynary  insti- 
tution belonging  to  the  State,  from   the   Chil- 
(C.)  9.  The  influ-  chin's  Court  up,  the  unfortunate 

ence  of  bad  politics  influence  Qf  merCenaiy  politics 
causes  offences  to  in-  J  * 

crease-  is  seen.     It  has  been  one  of  the 

most  difficult  factors  Judge  Lindsey's  splendid 
work  has  had  to  overcome.  Practically  every 
juvenile  institution  in  New  York  has  had  to 
fight  it  and  many  of  them  are  now  handicapped 
by  it.  Incompetent  officials  are  put  in  power. 
Lazy  parents  are  relieved  of  their  responsibility 
to  the  child.  Wardens  who  are  ignorant  of  their 
duties  are  put  over  hundreds  of  convicts. 

Grace  Johnson  reports  politics  as  endangering 
the  promising  work  of  the  State  agent  of  Min- 
nesota. Even  a  chaplain  can  not  be  chosen  with- 
out the  interference  of  politics.*  Governor  Odell 
is  accused  of  attempting  to  put  the  Reformatory 
at  Elmira  at  the  mercy  of  "  plum "  seekers. 
Fetter  of  Cornell  gives  a  list  of  such  cases  and 
cites  as  an  example  a  commissioner  of  charities 

*  "  Bulletin  of  Iowa  Institutions  "  for  April,  1902. 


122  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

with  no  previous  training  appointed  as  a  reward 
for  political  service.  The  same  was  attempted 
at  Brooklyn  and  the  judge  himself  was  so  bound 
by  politics  that  he  had  to  appoint  the  office 
seeker  to  draw  the  salary  and  a  philanthropic 
person  to  do  the  work. 

One   of    the   most   common   offences  of   the 

juvenile  is  truancy.     As  far  as  the  school  is  con- 

(*.)  Defective  ed-  ccmcd  this  springs  from  a  cur- 

ucation,  curriculum,  riculum  not  adapted  to  the  needs 

etc.,    cause     del  in- 

quency.  of  the  truant  boy,  teachers  who 

while  competent  do  not  meet  the  need  and  the 
fact  that  too  much  emphasis  is  put  on  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  and  too  little  on  methods  of 
thinking.  It  is  often  found  that  a  truant  does 
not  care  the  least  for  academic  education,  he  is 
restless  under  it,  or  dislikes  it,  but  if  this  is 
taught  in  reference  to  its  application  in  manual 
work  the  need  is  satisfied.  Many  of  the  truants 
come  from  a  class  who  do  not  intend  to  go  be- 
yond high  school  at  best.  But  the  curriculum 
there  is  essentially  a  preparation  for  college. 
The  juvenile  finds  no  interest  in  Latin,  Greek, 
and  algebra  because  he  sees  no  utility  in  them. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  123 

He  is  not  interested  in  study  for  study's  sake. 
He  wants  practical  work  and  this  the  school 
does  not  give  him.  If  there  were  some  such 
thing  as  a  "  volkschule "  where  manual  labor 
were  prominent  and  studies  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  the  boy  who  leaves  school  forever  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  less  truancy  would  be  found.  Every 
superintendent  of  lighter  schools  for  delinquents 
can  cite  cases  of  "  incorrigibles "  who  were 
interested,  became  teachable,  and  were  reclaimed 
through  manual  labor  and  studies  adapted  to  its 
explanation. 

The  teachers  of  schools  are  overwhelmingly 
women  and  girls.  No  criticism  can  be  made  of 
their  ability  to  teach,  but  the  fact  is  that  the 
roughest  boys  need  a  man's  personality  and  in- 
fluence much  more  than  they  get.  If,  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  school  and  the  home  were  more 
nearly  related  so  that  to  some  extent  the  teacher 
could  do  visiting  and  personal  work  which  the 
parent  does  not  do,  some  delinquency  could  be 
obviated.  Also  the  goal  of  teaching  is  too 
often  the  acquiring  of  facts.  If  the  teacher's 
object  were  to  make  a  child  ashamed  of  poor 


124  TEE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

intellectual  work,  ashamed  of  passing  a  word 
whose  meaning  was  not  clear  to  him,  or  naming 
a  place  he  could  not  locate,  the  effect  would  be 
better  character  and  better  knowledge. 

Besides  this  there  are  children  who  become 
delinquents  for  lack  of  place  to  play,  and  lack 
of  organized  amusements.  They  play  ball  in 
the  city  streets  and  are  arrested  —  for  this  is  a 
delinquency;  or  they  attend  cheap  theatres 
where  admission  is  gained  for  ten  cents.  Were 
the  educational  facilities  of  the  school  extended 
to  include  drill  in  games,  athletics,  and  organ- 
ized amusements,  much  of  the  delinquency 
arising  from  this  lack  would  disappear. 

Besides  bringing  a  family  into  a  strange  and 

often  unfavorable  locality  and  disorganizing  the 

(«.)  The    deiin-  home,  immigration  has  another 

luency  factors  in  im- 

migration.  delinquency-causing  phase.   The 

child  of  the  immigrant  soon  learns  the  lan- 
guage, his  parents  do  not,  and  the  child  feels 
that  he  is  brighter  than  his  father.  It  is  sur- 
prising how  soon  he  becomes  a  street  boy. 
The  number  of  such  children  in  the  correctional 
institutions  is  sometimes  almost  40%.  The  forty- 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  125 

seventh  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  report 
says :  "  It  is  remarkable  that  recently  arrived 
immigrants  who  display  small  adaptability  in 
American  standards  are  by  no  means  slow  in 
learning  about  this  and  other  institutions  where 
they  may  safely  leave  their  children  to  be  fed, 
clothed,  and  cared  for  at  the  public  expense. 
This  is  one  of  the  inducements  which  led  them 
to  leave  their  native  land." 

Many  of   the  causes   tabulated  as  social  are 

colored  by  economic  forces  and  of  none  is  this 

The  social  law  of  truer     than     of     immigration. 

extinction  or  absorp- 
tion. Perhaps    the    main   impulse    of 

immigration  is  economic.  It  is  certain  that  its 
worst  crime-breeding  elements  are  largely  so. 
The  following  law  sums  up  this  impulse: 
Whenever  two  classes  widely  differing  in  eco- 
nomic ability  and  intellectual  development  meet, 
the  weaker  of  them  disappears  either  by  absorp- 
tion or  death.  And  in  the  process  of  disappear- 
ance a  defective  and  delinquent  class  is  one  of 
the  stages.  This  is  true  whether  the  classes  be 
families  or  colonies  of  immigrants,  or  two  types 
of  men  in  one  land,  as  the  negro  and  the  white, 


126  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

the  white  and  the  Indian,  or  whether  it  is  a 
conquering  nation  and  the  savage,  as  the  whites 
and  the  Australians  or  Africans.  It  is  in  the 
lower  strata  of  both  peoples  that  the  delin- 
quency factors  operate  most  keenly.  The 
weaker  people  are  pushed  to  the  economic  wall. 
They  become  impoverished  and  work  at  the 
least  remunerative  work.  Some  are  pushed 
over  into  dependency;  the  women  tend  to  be- 
come either  prostitutes  or  low  class  wives  of  the 
lowest  strata  of  the  stronger  people.  This 
forms  a  population  of  half-bred  children  who 
are  brought  up  in  bad  surroundings,  a  realm  of 
borderlanders  always  on  the  verge  of  or  over 
into  delinquency.  Social  factors  such  as  race 
and  class  prejudice  come  in,  but  the  main 
impulse  is  economic. 

III.       ECONOMIC    CAUSES. 

The  law  just  stated  applies  not  only  to  im- 
migrants  and   peoples   of   different   races,   but 
The  effect  of  un-  also  to   those  of    different  eco- 

equal  economic  strug- 
gle is  delinquency.       nomic  classes.     Whenever  social 

classmaking  has  advanced  far  enough  to  clearly 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  127 

define  a  set  of  men  who  have  no  definite  hope 
of  ever  being  anything  but  "working  men," 
this  law  operates  between  them  and  the  employ- 
ing class.  It  also  operates  between  individuals 
of  the  same  class  with  a  downward  tendency  to 
the  vanquished.  And  whenever  the  struggle 
for  bread  becomes  acute  there  is  borderland. 
The  vanquished  will  be  pushed  over  into 
dependency  or  delinquency. 

This  is  especially  true  in  times  of  crisis,  for 
then   large   bodies  of   men  are   thrown  out   of 

the 


Crisesleavealegacy 
of  delinquency.  Q£       '73_7g       ill        Massachusetts, 

about  30,000  out  of  318,000  mechanics  were 
idle.  In  that  of  '82-'85  about  1,000,000  were 
unemployed.  During  the  depression  of  '91  the 
Governor  of  Oregon  estimated  that  one-third  of 
the  workmen  had  no  adequate  support.  The 
trades  union  estimated  at  the  same  time  that 
4,500,000  mechanics  were  out  of  work. 

One  result  of  this  is  competition  of  the  strong 
with  those  who  habitually  get  their  living  in  a 
precarious  way.  The  latter  being  less  efficient 
are  beaten  and  have  either  pauperism  or  crime 


128  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

before  them.  These  onco  tasted,  return  is  diffi- 
cult for  such  weaklings.  The  bracing  effect  of 
honest  work  is  lost.  The  family  sometimes 
becomes  permanently  degenerate.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  juvenile  delinquency  increases 
with  centralization  of  population ;  but  in  times 
of  crisis  the  reverse  is  true,  which  means  that 
new  localities  are  infected.  This  infection  is 
often  permanent.  During  the  cotton  revolution 
and  the  crisis  caused  in  Lancashire,  England, 
by  our  civil  war,  offences  rose  very  high,  —  and 
that  shire  is  still  one  of  the  highest  in  England 
in  record  of  delinquency. 

The  present   competition  for  monopoly,  now 

rapidly    changing    to    a    monopolistic    regime, 

(C.)     competition  has   bad   results   in    the   realm 

PraC0e«e±p';,,.  under  consideration.    It  forces 

tlon'  business   into  politics.     It  pro- 

2.  Historic  competi- 

tion-  duces   the  professional    "politi- 

cian "  and  "  ward-heeler."  It  crowds  incompe- 
tent overseers  into  eleemosynary,  penal,  and 
correctional  institutions.  It  protects  vice  in 
order  to  get  votes,  in  order  to  get  contracts,  in 
order  to  get  monopoly.  An  example  of  its 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  129 

results  in  preventing  better  civic  conditions  was 
shown  in  Chicago's  attempt  at  civic  betterment. 
Eight  public-spirited  business  men  tried  to 
better  the  conditions  of  foreign  and  ignorant 
laborers  at  the  stock-yards.  Had  they  stood 
together  the  work  could  have  been  carried 
through.  But  six  of  the  eight  would  have  lost 
votes  and  therefore  contracts  amounting  to 
thousands  of  dollars  from  each  man's  income. 
It  meant  political  weakness  and  perhaps  busi- 
ness ruin  to  attempt  betterment,  and  six  of  them 
dared  not  involve  their  families  to  that  extent. 
It  is  competition  which  has  been  the  impulse 
of  the  evolution  of  methods  of  production  and 
(C)  i.  (b)  His-  tin8  has  given  us  machinery 
reo^T^o8  everywhere.  Machines  increase 
nomic  evolution.  faG  nervous  pace  of  life.  They 
deteriorate  the  borderlander,  and  lower  working 
families  by  making  men  do  stupid  labor,  like 
feeding  a  machine  all  day  or  pulling  a  lever  at 
stated  intervals.  They  make  children  as  effi- 
cient as  men  used  to  be  and  therefore  cause  child 
labor  to  be  productive.  They  increase  the  irregu- 
larity of  labor  and  hence  the  chances  of  depend- 


130  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

ency  and  delinquency.  The  absence  of  machinery 
kept  employers  and  workmen  more  on  the  same 
level  and  preserved  the  personal  relation.  It 
helped  decentralization  and  allowed  the  children 
to  work  in  their  own  homes  under  the  care  of 
parents.  It  is  therefore  to  machinery  that  we 
owe  some  of  the  present  delinquency. 

Trades  unions  are  not  without  their  bad  side. 
Their     necessarily    cast-iron     rules     are    often 
(c.)    2.    Trades  blindly  unjust,  not  only  to  the 
^.^tTe":  employer  but  also  to  those  not 
ment-  fortunate  enough  to  be  in  their 

ranks.  They  bar  out  of  skilled  work  exactly 
the  danger  nucleus,  the  borderlander.  And  in 
some  parts  of  Australia  we  have  the  phenomenon 
of  thousands  just  above  the  borderlander  who, 
belonging  nominally  to  the  unions,  refuse  to 
work  at  any  time  at  anything  less  than  union 
wages,  and  so  strong  is  the  feeling  for  unions 
that  these  "  sturdy  beggars "  demand  and  get 
subsistence  without  work,  on  the  plea  that  the 
union  forbids  labor  at  less  than  union  rates. 

In   Newark   a   judge   of    the    juvenile  court 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  only  way  a  child 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  181 

of  the  borderlander  could  learn  a  trade  was  to 
be  committed  for  some  offence. 

These  conditions  strike  primarily  at  the  lower 
working  classes,  for  often  those  have  only 

(c.)   3.  Mere  brawn    bniW11      tO      glv6     tO     the     WOrld' 

discounted.  Barred  out  from  skilled  work 

by  the  unions,  their  only  resort  is  the  rough 
kind  of  toil.  This  is  largely  done  by  machinery, 
so  that  what  is  left  for  them  is  unsteady  and 
unwholesome,  or  tedious  work  which  tends  to 
embrute  and  keep  them  ignorant.  The  result  on 
the  children  is  clear,  —  for  the  home  is  poverty- 
stricken  and  the  many  things  which  would  raise 
them  above  the  parents'  class  are  denied. 

The  modern  city  is  the  necessary  outgrowth  of 
machine  methods  of  production,  and  while  the 

(C.)  4.  centraiiza.   process  of  centralization  began 

tion  of  population  pro- 
duces offenders.          about  the  time  of  our  revolution 

it  is  only  just  completed  in  some  trades.  Not 
thirty  years  ago  in  the  hatting  business  in  Lan- 
cashire, England,  the  villages  were  dotted  with 
families  of  hatters.  Every  one  or  two  families 
had  their  little  "  plank  shop  "  behind  the  house ; 
the  whole  hat  was  made  by  hand,  the  wife  and 


132  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

children  helping.  Machinery  has  been  invented 
and  now  the  little  shops  are  unused,  as  the 
writer  saw  only  a  few  months  ago.  The  hatters 
are  gathered  together  about  the  large  factories, 
and  the  village  hatter  is  almost  unknown.  This 
is  typical  of  almost  all  other  trades.  The  result 
is  a  centralization  of  population,  and  the  young 
people  of  the  family  working  away  from  the 
parents.  In  the  city  life  less  track  can  be  kept 
of  the  children ;  goods  are  more  freely  displayed 
and  stealing  becomes  easier.  Also  playing  in 
the  city  streets,  the  formation  of  "gangs"  and 
their  attendant  phenomena  of  delinquency 
appear  so  clearly  as  to  be  formulated  in  the  law 
that  juvenile  offences  spring  up  in  direct  pro- 
portion as  the  population  increases.  It  will  be 
remembered  (Chapter  I.)  that  not  2%  of  delin- 
quents come  from  the  open  country  and  that  20% 
of  city  boys  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  sixteen 
years  become  offenders. 

Even  when   the   centralization  is  temporary 
Even  when  that  cen-  this  law  holds.     Paris  had  about 

tralization    is   tempo- 
rary, twice    the     usual     number     of 

boys    arrested   for  delinquency  during  the  ex- 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  133 

position  year.*  At  the  St.  Louis  exposition  girls 
were  lured  from  country  homes  f  and  there  was 
serious  reason  for  suspecting  the  existence  of  a 
society  for  supplying  girls  for  immoral  purposes 4 
Some  data  under  this  caption  are  given  in 
Chapter  I.  under  "  home  conditions."  In  Paris 
poverty  produces  poverty  was  one  of  the  great 
young  malefactors.  causes  of  delinquency.  Between 
'90  and  '92  over  47%  of  the  children  arrested 
there  had  indigent  parents. §  Israel  Jones,  super- 
intendent of  the  New  York  House  of  Refuge, 
finds  cold  and  hunger  a  frequent  cause  of  theft.  || 
Continued  poverty  lowers  the  standard  of  living, 
and  sometimes  pushes  the  family  over  into 
pauperism  or  delinquency.  The  New  York 
Juvenile  Asylum  reports  that  poverty  often 
pushes  the  boy  out  of  home  and  initiates  him 
into  the  offender's  life.^f 

*  "  Du  Vagabondage  et  de  la  Prostitution  des  Mineurs."  Kevue 
Penitentiaire. 

fMrs.  Whittemore  of  the  Door  of  Hope  declared  a  syndicate 
had  raised  $250,000  to  lure  girls  to  the  fair. 

J  "  Charities,"  Nov.  19,  '04.    Also  Telegram,  N.Y.,  Jan.  14,  '04. 

§  Revue  Penetentiaire,  Vol.  19 ;  pages  93-99. 

||  "  Juvenile  Delinquency,  Limited  Sentences,"  a  pamphlet. 

H  Fifty -first  report,  page  22. 


134 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


Poverty  prevents  a  boy  from  learning  a  trade 
for  he  receives  such  small  wages  while  learning 
that  the  parents  can  not  afford  to  keep  him  at  it. 
Also  his  ragged  clothes  often  bar  him  from 
employment.  There  is  a  society  in  connection 
with  the  New  York  Institute  for  Social  Service 
whose  object  is  to  supply  decent  clothes  in 
which  to  apply  for  work. 

The  children  of  the  poor  are  sent  out  to  work 
too  soon,  and  are  unequipped  and  puny.  An 
examination  of  four  hundred  and  eighty-six 
inmates  of  the  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum 
showed  the  following:  thirty-five  were  under 
seven  years  of  age  and  were  not  questioned; 
of  the  four  hundred  and  fifty-one  left  the  aver- 
age age  at  which  they  began  work  was  eleven 
years  and  nine  months,  as  follows : 

1    began  work  at  the  age  of 4 


1 

3 

8 

10 

99 

n 
44 

33 

65 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  135 

61  began  work  at  the  age  of 13 

65   "    "    "    "     14 

11   "    "    "    "     15 

1    "    "    "    "     17 

That  is,  83%  never  bad  a  childhood,  but  were 
loaded  with  a  man's  burden  and  a  child's 
strength. 

Not  only  so,  but  these  children  are  sent  out 
to  work  at  street  occupations,  which  is  a  fruitful 
source  of  delinquency.  Mornay  Williams  puts 
this  as  one  of  the  great  producers  of  delin- 
quents.* Miss  Kelly,  an  experienced  worker 
among  the  young,  puts  this  as  one  of  the  three 
great  causes  of  delinquency.  Of  the  above- 
mentioned  children,  105  were  newsboys,  40 
messenger  boys,  55  in  factories,  68  in  stores,  28 
peddlers,  11  were  hall-boys,  and  6  were  boot- 
blacks. It  is  not  strange  that  the  New  York 
Asylum  reports  "  one  of  the  causal  factors  of 
delinquency  is  the  factory  and  street  employ- 
ment of  young  children."  Nor  are  the  condi- 
tions limited  to  New  York  City.  Mrs.  John 
Van  Vorst  reports  that  there  are  in  the  United 

* "  The  Street  Boy,"  page  3,  by  Mr.  Williams,  President 
N.Y.J.A. 


136  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

States  a  million  and  a  half  of  children  working 
between  the  ages  of  10  and  15;  25%  of  all  the 
textile  workers  of  the  South  are  under  16. 
Two  thousand  girls  under  13  are  doing  night 
work  in  Pennsylvania ;  92,000  are  employed  at 
or  below  that  age  in  New  York  State.  In 
Maine  there  are  good  laws  to  prevent  this,  but 
they  are  poorly  enforced.  In  New  Hampshire 
there  is  no  factory  inspection.  In  Alabama  the 
laws  are  as  poor  as  the  enforcement.  In  Georgia 
there  are  no  laws  at  all.*  In  some  cases  children 
from  4  to  6  years  old  are  employed  steadily  in 
the  mills,  and  girls  of  6,  7,  and  8  years  of  age 
work  all  night  in  the  cotton  factories. 

The  legacy  which  such  conditions  leaves  is 
permanent.  Children  sent  to  work  under  these 
circumstances  are  naturally  limited  in  horizon. 
They  work  until  they  are  of  marriageable  age 
and  then  in  turn  put  their  children  at  the  same 
labor.  The  standard  of  living,  health  and  vital- 
ity, intelligence  and  the  forces  which  oppose 
delinquency  and  crime  are  constantly  lowered, 
until,  as  is  the  case  of  Lancashire  and  West 

*  "  The  Saturday  Evening  Post,"  March  10, 1906. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  137 

Riding  of  Yorkshire,  England,  the  legacy  of 
offences  is  permanent.  Both  of  these  localities 
just  mentioned  had  the  same  conditions  years 
ago;  they  have  yet  the  highest  ratio  of  crime 
and  delinquency  in  England.  Few  realize  what 
these  figures  mean.  They  mean  that  children 
to  the  number  of  a  million  and  a  half  are  bat- 
tered by  belts  and  pulleys  into  crooked,  igno- 
rant, hopeless  citizens,  for  it  is  the  exceptional 
child  who  rises  from  these  conditions.  Harvard 
University  has  in  all  her  departments  some  two 
or  three  thousand  students  whom  the  State  and 
authorities  are  trying  for  eight  months  in  the 
year  to  educate.  Here  in  the  factories  of  our 
United  States  are  some  700  universities  as  large 
as  Harvard,  running  almost  twice  as  long  each 
year  and  their  unspeakable  product  is  con- 
sumption, ignorance,  undeveloped  bodies,  border- 
landers'  homes,  brutalities,  the  blotting  out  of 
all  the  delicate  and  fine,  the  quenching  of 
700  Harvards  of  children,  with  their  right  to 
laughter  and  life,  the  substitution  of  disgrace 
and  delinquency  for  sunshine  and  flowers.  We 
look  back  at  the  blue  books  of  England  with 


138  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

the  record  of  children  driven  in  gangs  to  work, 
and  fed  on  the  swill  of  the  swine,  and  we  say 
"it  is  past."  But  here  it  is  in  new  birth,  in- 
volving more  of  our  own  children  than  were 
ground  to  pieces  for  the  cotton  cloth  of  Eng- 
land. Have  we  no  Mrs.  Browning  to  voice 
"  The  Bitter  Cry  of  Our  Children  "  ?  Seven  hun- 
dred Harvards  of  this  kind  with  the  corollary  of 
300,000  homes  so  ruined  that  a  sociologist  can 
see  them  from  the  train  windows  as  it  rushes 
through  a  town  ! 

The  manner  in  which  these  conditions  work 

out  high  delinquency  is  devious.     Besides  those 

above-mentioned   is  the  avenue 

The  legacy  of  pov- 
erty and  unwholesome   of    tramp    life.      The    monotony 

work  leads  to  embru- 

tation  and  tramp  nfe  of  feeding  a  machine  ten  hours 
a  day  for  six  days  a  week  results 
in  a  certain  stupidity  which  expresses  itself  in 
physique.  Initiative  and  adaptability  are  lost, 
and  from  the  dulness  of  labor  a  dulness  of 
ethical  perception  follows.  After  work  hours 
there  is  a  desire  for  amusement,  and  this  is 
found  in  inert  loafing  about  some  favorite 
lamp-post  or  alley.  The  cheap  theatre  is  patron- 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  139 

ized,  as  is  also  the  drinking  saloon.  In  the  case 
of  a  girl  this  is  apt  to  lead  to  a  misstep  which 
in  turn  closes  her  home  against  her  and  opens 
the  way  to  prostitution.  With  the  boy  an  in- 
ertia and  aversion  to  all  kinds  of  work  is 
developed,  together  with  a  desire  to  drink  and 
wander.  The  tramp  life  is  easier  and  pleasanter 
than  the  work  they  have  been  compelled  to  do. 
It  is  from  the  ranks  of  messenger  boys,  the 
underfed  and  under-aged  factory  children  that 
tramps  are  recruited.  For  even  when  they 
have  a  home  it  has  such  little  material  basis 
that  they  might  as  well  be  living  in  a  tent.  It 
is  easier  to  move  than  to  pay  rent.  The  number 
of  tramps  is  not  often  appreciated.  In  England 
it  was  estimated  that  30,000  persons  were  con- 
tinually on  the  tramp.  General  Booth  esti- 
mated the  number  of  homeless  in  the  United 
Kingdom  to  be  165,000.*  In  Germany  estimates 
vary  from  40,000  to  200,000.  No  statistics  are 
available  for  the  United  States,  but  the  indica- 
tions are  that  the  ratio  is  about  the  same  here 

*  Warner,  "American  Charities,"  page  182. 


140  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

as  elsewhere.*  When  we  remember  that  the 
adult  tramp  teaches  boys  begging,  unnatural 
sexual  actions,  and  vagrancy,  we  may  more 
easily  see  the  "  vicious  circle  "  of  which  the 
underfed  and  overworked  city  child  is  a  part. 
For  while  economic  processes  are  developing, 
there  is  a  great  amount  of  waste  product  which 
seems  at  times  a  necessary  result  of  economic 
evolution. 

IV.       DISPOSITIONAL    CAUSES. 

The   adventurous  disposition   is   common  in 

healthy   children.     It   impels   a  child   to  rob  a 

garden,  steal  thermometers,  milk 

(a.)     Normal. 

Adventurous    and  or  newspapers  from  piazzas,  or 

lawless    dispositions, 

truancy,  idleness,  and    CVCU    to    drive    away   with    SOme 

the  gang  instinct,  and  ,     .  „•       ,   «•        P         •>->  rm 

immaturity  cause  the  one  s  horse,  "just  for  fun.    There 

fall  of  juveniles. 


malicious  purpose,  but  just  the  desire  to  be 
"  chased  "  by  somebody.  When  this  disposition 
occurs  in  a  city  child  it  is  only  a  question  of 


*"  Six  Weeks  in  Beggardom,"  Everybody's,  December  and 
January,  1904-5.  Forbes,  Mendicancy  officer  of  N.Y.  C.O.S.,  "  The 
Jockers  and  the  Schools  they  keep." 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  141 

time,  unless  carefully  guided  by  parents,  before 
he  is  landed  at  the  court. 

Sometimes  it  takes  the  form  of  lawlessness. 

The  boy  wants  to  be  "  chased  by  the  cop."     He 

takes  a  pride  in  being  "  tough." 

Lawlessness. 

The  fact  that  a  deed  is  against 
the  law,  the  rule  of  his  parents  or  the  express 
command  of  school  teacher  or  overseer  is  enough 
to  create  a  desire  to  do  it.  Still  this  is  not 
inherent  criminality.  It  is  normal  and  is  fed 
by  the  melodramatic  theatre  and  dime  novels. 
Many  children  are  arrested  after  witnessing  a 
circus  performance  or  a  cheap  play.  They  have 
been  "playing  highway  robber"  too  realistically, 
actually  holding  up  others  and  robbing  them  at 
the  point  of  a  pistol. 

One  of  the  commonest  avenues  of  delinquency 

is  truancy,  statistics  of  which  have  already  been 

given.    There  are  many  children 

Truancy. 

who  can  not  bear  school  studies 
and  school  methods.  They  become  irritable 
and  avoid  school  at  every  possible  opportunity. 
Some  of  this  is  illness  or  nervousness,  as  is 
proved  by  medical  cures.  Some  is  dislike  for  a 


142  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

particular  school  or  school  teacher.  Still  others 
are  truant  because  of  overcrowded  ,or  distant 
school.  And  again,  there  are  many  whose 
minds  revolt  from  academic  studies,  but  they 
take  eagerly  to  them  when  combined  with  and 
bearing  on  mechanical  or  manual  labor  Rela- 
tively few  of  them  are  naturally  truant.  But 
from  whatever  source  truancy  springs,  it  is  an 
offence  which  starts  many  in  the  delinquent  life. 
Idleness  impels  some  truants.  And  perhaps 
this  should  be  put  under  physiological  causes, 
for  it  is  often  a  matter  of  under- 

Idlenegs. 

developed  body.  At  a  certain 
stage  a  growing  child  is  lazy  because  his  energy 
is  being  taken  up  by  growth.  He  refuses  all 
kinds  of  work,  and  in  order  to  get  out  of  it 
becomes  a  truant  or  a  little  vagrant.  Away 
from  home,  playing  on  the  street,  he  easily 
drifts  into  delinquency. 

It  is  such  children,  adventurous,  lawless,  idle, 

and   truant,  that   naturally   form   gangs.     The 

other  school  comrades  being  at 

The  gang  instinct.  . 

work,  these  are  isolated  and 
form  a  little  clan.  Often  a  whole  "  gang "  is 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  143 

brought  into  court  and  with  the  "  gang  "  some 
not  belonging  there  who  happened  to  be  caught 
with  them.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  either 
adults  or  children  will  do  things  by  "  gangs  " 
which  no  single  member  would  dream  of  doing 
alone.  These  boys  indulge  in  pitched  battles 
on  the  city  streets,  they  annoy  pedestrians,  in- 
sult passing  women,  incite  each  other  to  law- 
lessness, and  in  some  cases  form  little  criminal 
societies  pledged  to  testify  in  favor  of  any  who 
are  caught  and  "  to  stick  by  the  gang  "  in  every 
possible  way.  This  is  not  morbid  or  inherent 
viciousness,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  more 
than  once  a  remarkably  "  tough  "  gang  has  been 
enlisted,  every  member,  in  useful  work  and  be- 
come a  thoroughly  useful  club  under  tactful 
leadership. 

Immaturity   sums    up   much   of    this    matter 

already   cited  and  also  such  causes  as  lack  of 

will  or    volition,    lack  of  moral 

Immaturity. 

discrimination,  and  lack  01  ap- 
preciation of  property  rights.  It  seems  as  if 
instincts  develop  before  the  child  knows  how  to 
control  them.  Until  he  is  taught  he  does  not 


144  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

realize  the  difference  between  ordinary  naughty 
acts  and  criminally  wrong  acts.  When  he 
wants  an  object  he  sees  no  sufficient  reason  why 
he  should  not  take  it.  Indeed  the  difference 
between  the  nervous  organization  and  brain  of 
a  child  and  those  of  a  man  is  as  great  as  the 
chasm  between  a  dog  and  a  man,  except  for  the 
fact  that  the  child  possesses  potential  develop- 
ment. But  no  lack  of  development,  no  imma- 
turity counts  with  the  law.  The  child  may  not 
be  severely  dealt  with,  but  he  becomes  delin- 
quent and  his  immaturity  (lacking  guidance) 
has  been  the  cause. 

It  can  not  be  doubted  that  some  children  are 

backward  by  nature.     They  do  not  learn  easily. 

(&.)  Abnormal  School  is  a  constant  and  labori- 

ous  dread  to  tbem>  and  tney 
become  truant  (lackins  over- 

fenders.  sight).     Also   a  naturally  back- 

ward child  will  show  moral  dulness.  Morality 
is  not  born  in  any  child,  it  must  be  acquired, 
and  when  one  has  said  that  a  child  is  mentally 
dull  it  is  almost  equivalent  to  saying  that  there 
will  be  moral  dulness.  If  there  is  not  special 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  145 

oversight  a  backward  girl  can  be  easily  intro- 
duced to  an  immoral  life,  and  a  backward  boy 
under  such  circumstances  drifts  with  facility  to 
a  truant,  vagrant,  and  vicious  life. 

Sometimes   there  is   a    morbid  taint   without 
insanity.      The   child  develops    perverse   sexu- 
ality, a  desire  to  drink,  or  klep- 

Morbidity.  . 

tomania  and,  lacking  guidance, 
these  desires  are  developed  and  indulged.  It  is 
not  as  rare  as  one  could  wish  to  find  boys  who 
have  been  intoxicated  more  than  once  before  the 
age  of  ten,  and  there  are  both  boys  and  girls 
below  that  age  already  sexual  perverts. 

When  the  juvenile  is  clearly  insane  he  is  not 
counted  a  delinquent,  but  in  its  subtler  forms 
insanity  in  Bubtie  ^sanity  is  exceedingly  difficult 
forms-  to  recognize.     Several  cases    of 

delinquency  and  serious  crime,  afterward  de- 
clared insanity,  have  come  to  the  writer's  notice. 
Maudsley  gives  several  cases  of  what  he  calls 
"  affective  "  insanity.  The  patient  is  apparently 
rational  but  has  insane  desires  which  lead 
him  to  commit  crimes.*  Krafft-Ebbing  gives  a 

*  See  numerous  examples  in    Maudsley 's    "  Responsibility  in 
Mental  Disease,"  and  Krafft-Ebbin^'s  "  Psychopathia  Sexualis." 
Other  cases  are  given  in  the  present  paper  under  insanity. 


146  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

volume  of  analogous  data  in  the  realm  of  sex 
passion.  There  is  no  doubt  that  insanity  may 
take  such  a  form  that  while  reason  is  apparently 
intact,  the  affective  nature  is  so  insane  that  all 
kinds  of  offences  from  truancy,  begging,  and 
vagrancy  to  "  lust  murder  "  may  be  committed 
by  juveniles  apparently  sane,  and  this  insane 
taint  may  rise  from  wounds,  falls,  poisons,  drugs 
and  the  like  acting  on  a  person  of  neurotic 
temperament. 

There  is  also  reason  for  believing  in  the  ex- 
istence of  "natural"    criminals.     Physical  and 
mental   examination    reveal   no 

The  criminal  nature. 

condition  which  would  justify 
inclusion  under  any  usual  class  of  insane,  but 
yet  the  person  is  anomalous.  His  desires  may 
not  be  insane  but  only  criminal.  In  every 
serious  correctional  institution  there  are  some 
reports  of  those  inherently  vicious  whose  de- 
linquency can  not  be  clearly  traced  to  environ- 
ment or  to  insanity.  For  example,  in  examin- 
ing the  inmates  of  a  penal  institution  the  writer 
came  across  a  young  man  of  Neapolitan  birth. 
He  had  the  thick  hair,  prominent  frontal 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  147 

eminences,  high  cheek  bones,  outstanding  ears, 
heavy  jaw,  etc.,  of  Lombroso's  descriptions ;  he 
was  a  typical  mongoloid  criminal  and  I  put  him 
down  as  such  without  asking  his  offence.  A 
month  later  the  record  of  his  crimes  was 
searched.  He  habitually  carried  a  stiletto,  had 
stabbed  a  man  in  the  head,  and  told  me  in 
answer  to  my  question  as  to  whether  he  was 
sorry,  "  Me  sorry  eighteen  months."  He  re- 
gretted the  confinement  but  bore  it  like  a  cat. 
The  Italian  school  classifies  these  as  the  "  born  '' 
criminal.  And  although  this  is  obviously  a 
metaphorical  use  of  the  word,  no  man  can  be  a 
born  criminal  in  reality  any  more  than  a  man 
can  be  a  born  sea  captain ;  still  it  is  accurate 
enough  to  describe  a  class  of  delinquents  funda- 
mentally vicious,  yet  not  insane  in  the  usual 
sense.  This  viciousness  may  be  hereditary,  or 
probably  congenital. 

V.       PHYSIOLOGICAL    CAUSES. 

The  renitant  factors  in  abundant  animal 
spirits  are  largely  the  physical  basis  of  adventu- 
rous disposition.  This  phenomenon  is  noted  by 


148  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

every  settlement   worker.     There   are  children 
(a.)  Normal.          "  so  full  of  life  "  that  they  can 

T  h  e      delinquency  .  ,      ,  .  ,  ,         m,  .  , 

factor.   which  appear    not  S1*  Still.        IllCJ  thrOW  Stones, 


BCX  -  and  youth.  yards,  climb  into  empty  build- 
ings and  prowl  about  private  property.  In 
the  country  this  superabundant  energy  expends 
itself  in  tree  climbing,  swimming,  fishing,  and 
long  walks  in  the  woods.  But  in  the  city  there 
is  no  opportunity  for  these  harmless  amuse- 
ments. The  former,  which  are  all  delinquen- 
cies, are  indulged  in,  and  the  youth  is  brought 
before  the  court. 

The  maximum  period  of  delinquency  is  from 

fourteen  to   sixteen  years    of   age,  the   age   of 

puberty.     At  this  time  not  only 

Puberty. 

the  sex  passions  come  to  con- 
sciousness, but  other  impulses.  The  child  is  in 
general  more  susceptible,  more  nervous  and 
more  easily  influenced  for  good  or  bad  than  in 
any  other  period  of  life.  Several  experiments 
have  been  tried  by  the  writer  to  prove  this. 
One  of  them  is  to  ask  for  a  show  of  hands  of 
those  in  a  church  audience  converted  at  the  age 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  149 

of  fourteen  to  sixteen.  It  is  remarkable  that 
almost  50%  are  converted  about  that  period.  It 
is  also  under  the  stress  of  puberty  that  offences 
against  modesty  are  committed  by  children, 
who,  when  normal,  grow  out  of  it  later. 

In   the   New    York,    Brooklyn,    and  Newark 

Children's    Courts    the  writer  found  the  great 

majority  of  offenders  to  be  boys. 

HPT 

Before  the  New  York  Court 
there  were  1,204  juveniles  in  15  months  ;  95.19% 
of  them  were  boys.*  At  Atlanta  93.23%  were 
boys.  In  French  juvenile  institutions  76.92% 
were  males.  In  England  80%  of  police  court 
offenders  and  85.72%  of  reformatory  children 
were  boys.  At  the  penitentiary  at  Caldwell  the 
writer  counted  during  six  visits  85%  males. 
The  general  figures  for  United  States  prisoners 
show  93.86%  to  be  males.  Some  of  this  differ- 
ence of  criminality  between  male  and  female  is 
to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  a  girl  is  less 
likely  to  be  arrested,  and  a  young  woman 
less  likely  to  be  committed  than  a  young  man. 

*  Report  of  the  chief  probation  officer,  1904;  Morrison's  "Juve- 
nile Offenders,"  page  43  j  Census  for  Ib90. 


150  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

In  conditions  which  make  the  life  of  a  female 
more  nearly  that  of  the  male  the  ratio  is  more 
equal.  But  in  general  the  female  is  far  less 
criminal,  both  in  number  and  in  intensity  of 
offences,  than  the  male.  We  may  therefore 
infer  that  sex  has  a  causative  influence  on 
delinquency. 

The  youthfulness  of  the  delinquent,  the  pre- 
cocity he  displays  in  delinquency  indicate  age  as 
a    causative     element.      When 

Youth. 

does  the  offender  begin  his 
criminal  life?  If  we  begin  with  the  older 
delinquent  and  pass  to  the  first  court  offender 
we  can  answer  this  question.  At  Illinois  Peni- 
tentiary 58%  of  the  inmates  committed  their 
first  penitentiary  offence  before  the  age  of  25. 
At  Elmira  89.9%  of  the  inmates  were  below  25 ; 
the  indications  are  that  they  began  their  reform- 
atory offences  below  20.*  When  we  reach  the 
juvenile  proper,  we  find  that  57.5%  of  the 
offenders  in  French  institutions  were  between 

*  Report  of  N.Y.  State  Home,  1904,  page  28;  Fifty-first  report 
N.Y.J.A.,  page  50;  N.Y.  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira,  page  28; 
"The  Juvenile  Court  at  Denver,"  pamphlet;  "  Enfants  Coup- 
able,"  Rauxj  page  26 ;  "  Juvenile  (.'Senders,"  Cady. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  151 

14  and  26  years  of  age,  the  maximum  number 
being  15.     Of  those  arrested  at  Paris  76%  were 
between  the  ages  of  13  and  16.     At  Jamesburg, 
N.J.,  60%  were  between  13  and  16,  most  being 

15  years  old,  while  at  the  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum  most   were  aged   14.     Judge    Lindsey 
claims  20%  of  city  boys  are  arrested  between  the 
ages  of   10   and   16.     Cady,  averaging  all   the 
available  data,  concludes  that  the  average  age  of 
the   delinquent   boy  is  14.09  and   that   of    the 
delinquent  girl  14.71. 

These  figures  give  only  the  age  at  which  the 
offender  was  confined  in  an  institution.  But 
there  is  almost  always  a  bad  record  before  the 
delinquent  is  committed.  It  is  the  custom  to 
suspend  sentence  or  parole  a  child  for  his  first, 
second  or  even  third  offence  unless  it  is  very 
serious.  So  that  the  average  age  given  by  Cady 
would  be  lessened  by  one  or  two  years,  if  it 
indicated  the  age  at  which  the  first  court  offence 
was  committed.  But  the  first  court  offence  is 
not  always  the  first  actual  offence.  This  can  be 
learned  only  by  knowledge  of  the  child  at  home 
and  on  the  street.  Almost  all  the  delinquents 


152  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOB. 

sent  to  Newark  court  from  Montclair  School  for 
backwards  during  two  years  were  known  by 
me  ;  they  had  been  a  year  or  two  in  this  school 
and  had  been  known  before  that  to  be  trouble- 
some children.  Their  delinquent  life  began 
before  the  age  of  ten. 

Troublesome  actions  in  children  below  ten  are 
rarely  serious  enough  to  compel  general  notice  ; 
they  are  seen  only  by  persons  in  close  touch 
with  the  child,  as  the  club  leader  or  school 
teacher.  Such  contact  with  these,  and  the  fact 
that  many  children  are  in  court  at  the  age  of 
eight,  has  convinced  the  writer  that  delinquency 
has  its  beginning  as  soon  as  we  can  trace  any- 
thing like  individuality.  It  is,  therefore,  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  youth,  lack  of  physical  ma- 
turity, has  a  causative  influence  on  delinquency. 

It  is  clear   that,   other   things   being   equal, 

the  child  without  deformations,  the  handsome 

(6.)    Abnormal  youth,   stands    a   better    social 

phyeical  causes,  as  de-  j  ,  ,  ,  ,  , 

formations,    disease,  and  economic  chance  than  those 


^:  mal-formed.      The    latter   tend 
edity-  to    become   irritable,    bitter,  or 

even  criminal  under  the  jokes  and  thoughtless 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  153 

discriminations  made  by  employers  against  them. 
That  is,  there  is  a  downward  pressure.  An  ill- 
favored  boy  is  shunned  and  his  tendency  is  to 
grow  up  worthy  of  his  treatment,  especially  if 
he  be  the  child  of  the  borderlander. 

Disease  works  both  directly  on  the  child  and 
indirectly  on  his  parents.  It  may  kill  or  cripple 

Disease  causes  of-  the   guardians    and    leave    the 
fences,  child   adrift.     Disease   may   at- 

tack the  juvenile  in  such  a  way  as  to  develop 
abnormal  cravings,  restlessness,  and  therefore 
truancy  or  vicious  acts.  Many  children  have 
been  cured  of  delinquency  by  removal  of  ade- 
noid growths,  by  castration,  and  the  like. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  there  are  records  of 
offences  committed  under  the  influence  of 

Hypnotism  and  som-  hypnotism  and  somnambulism.* 

nambulism    enter    in 

causes.  Persons  may  plan  and  execute 

strange  criminal  acts  while  asleep  or  hypnotized 
and  have  no  remembrance  of  them  afterward. 

That  crime  or  a  neurotic  tendency  thereto 
may  be  transmitted  by  heredity  is  well  known. 
The  Juke  family  is  a  famous  example.  Juke, 

*See  Maudsley,  "  Responsibility  in  Mental  Diseases,"  page  268; 
also  Moll,  "  Hypnotism." 


154  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

the  father,  was  born  about  1720-40  in  New 
York  State  ;  709  out  of  nearly 
1,200  descendants  have  been 
traced,  and  of  this  709  there  were  less  than  20 
skilled  workers  and  10  of  these  learned  their 
trade  while  in  prison.  One  hundred  and  eight 
received  out-door  relief  amounting  to  2,300 
years  for  one  man.  There  were  76  confirmed 
criminals;  52.4%  of  the  women  were  harlots. 
Altogether  this  family  has  cost  the  State  one 
and  a  quarter  millions  of  dollars.* 

VI.       INDIVIDUAL    CAUSES. 

The  action  of  bad  personal  habits  is  twofold, 
individual  causes  of  (1)   on   the  parent,  and  (2)   on 

delinquency?   as    bad     ,->          r  -ij 
habit!  the  Chll(i- 


*'  Intoxication  is  a  rare  phenom- 


2 

3.  Drugs.  enon  in  the  iuvenile.     Morrison 

4.  Sexual. 

5.  Bad  associates,    finds  it  practically  non-existent 

6.  Bad  literature. 

7.  cheap  theatres,    in  England,  but  in  South  Africa 


9.  Lakotade.     where  the  native  grape  pickers 

10.  street  life.         are  childrcn  of  fourteen  to  six- 

11.  Lax  honesty. 

12.  Gambling.          ^een  years  old  it  is  common,  for 
the  workers  are  paid  part  of  their  wages  in  wine, 

*Dugdale,  "The  Jukes,"  N.Y.,  1891. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  155 

and  it  is  served  from  four  to  six  times  a  day. 
Cecil  Rhodes  opposed  this  custom  and  some  of 
the  English  and  Dutch  farmers  are  now  carrying 
on  his  work.  Alcoholism  in  the  parent  of  the 
juvenile,  while  not  as  common  as  other  im- 
moralities, is  yet  not  unknown  (see  Chapter  I., 
Section  B).  In  the  adult  offender  guilty  of  the 
most  serious  crime  alcoholism  is  relatively  rare. 
The  professional  criminal  is  too  "  wise "  to 
drink.  The  criminals  who  drink  are  usually 
the  short  term  men,  "bums,"  loafers,  petty 
thieves,  "  good-for-nothings,"  and  the  like  who 
crowd  our  penitentiaries.  Drahm  concludes  that 
little  criminality  is  caused  by  intoxicants. 
Among  the  Ishmaelites  and  Rodneys,  two 
famous  families  of  criminals,  as  well  as  among 
the  Jukes,  it  is  not  as  evident  as  sex  immorality. 
Yet  the  writer's  experience  shows  how  drink 
is  responsible  for  much  crime  of  certain  kinds. 
Often  at  the  penitentiary  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion "  What  was  the  trouble  ?  "  "  Drink  "  was 
given  as  the  cause.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  we  have  all  grades  of  institutions  and  the 
causes  of  crime  naturally  vary  with  the  kind 


156  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

of  crime.  An  examination  of  the  jail  and 
penitentiary  inmates,  —  relatively  short-term  of- 
fenders, —  would  probably  reveal  about  50%  as 
drinkers  and  25%  practically  little  less  than 
"  drunks."  For  it  is  to  such  places  that  these 
are  sent.  Naturally  the  prisons  and  reforma- 
tories would  reveal  slight  percentages  of 
alcoholism,  because  a  man  whose  crime  was 
only  or  mainly  drink  would  not  be  sent  there, 
but  to  a  short  term  institution.  It  is  by  con- 
fusing these  facts  that  such  wild  statements  as 
"  90%  of  all  criminality  is  due  to  drink  "  are 
made.  The  investigator  has  been  to  jail  or  a 
short  term  institution  and  thinks  this  typical  of 
all. 

More  indirectly  drink  causes  delinquency.  It 
is  among  parents  who  like  drink  without  being 
drunken,  and  who  send  the  child  to  the  saloon  for 
beer,  and  then  wonder  why  he  drinks ;  it  is  here 
that  intoxicants  work.  So  that  while  compara- 
tively little  of  the  "  most  serious "  crime  is 
directly  so  caused,  much  has  its  indirect  source 
in  drinking.  For  example,  the  November  report 
of  the  grand  jury  in  Cook  County,  Illinois,  says : 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  157 

"It  is  a  matter  of  general  remark  among  the 
jurors  that  a  large  number  of  cases  before  them 
were  connected  with  saloons  at  some  stage. 
Larceny  and  burglaries  were  generally  planned 
or  executed  in  saloons.  One  murder  was  com- 
mitted in  a  saloon,  two  just  outside.  The 
assaults  which  happen  about  saloons  or  in  them 
are  numerous." 

It  is  perhaps  more  the  saloon  than  the  drink 
per  se  which  causes  delinquency.  The  parents 
and  the  child  are  acted  upon  unfavorably  by  the 
drunken  and  low  atmosphere  of  the  saloon. 

Brockway,  the  father  of  Elmira  Reformatory, 

was   so    convinced    of    the    baneful    effects    of 

tobacco  that  he  refused  to  allow 

Tobacco. 

it  in  the  place,  and  paddled  any 
inmate  using  it.  How  far  he  is  right  is  a  ques- 
tion. The  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  finds 
cigarette  smoking  a  cause  of  delinquency  among 
its  inmates.*  Ellis  finds  that  criminals  begin 
to  use  tobacco  at  an  early  age  ;  twenty-two  per 
cent  smoke  before  the  age  of  thirty  ;  nearly  all 
of  them,  99%  of  males  and  100%  of  females  ex- 

*  Fifty-first  report,  page  39. 


158  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

amined  smoked  before  entering  prison ;  *  while 
only  14%  of  the  smokers  of  the  normal  population 
and  7.2%  of  the  insane  begin  before  that  age. 
Love  of  tobacco  is  said  to  be  the  first  passion 
which  roots  itself  in  the  juvenile  delinquent. 
Out  of  603  juveniles  between  the  ages  of  eight 
and  fifteen,  51%  had  acquired  the  tobacco  habit 
before  detention.  The  way  tobacco  acts  on 
some  offenders  is  interesting.  One  delinquent 
revealed  on  examination  noticeable  traces  of  the 
tobacco  habit.  I  asked  him  how  much  he 
smoked.  "  Oh,  all  the  time."  "  Well,  can  you 
give  it  up?  "  " I  don't  know."  "Did  you  ever 
try  ?  "  "  Yes,  I  tried  one  day  to  do  without  it 
for  an  hour.  After  about  half  an  hour  I  felt  as 
if  I  should  die  right  there  if  I  did  n't  take  a 
smoke.  I  had  to  smoke,  —  I  could  n't  help  it." 
Practically  no  data  in  percentage  are  available 
for  the  ordinary  population,  but  John  Bain  gives 
an  interesting  volume  to  show  its  beneficent 
effects  when  rightly  used.f  It  is  no  doubt  bene- 
ficial for  some  adults  when  used  moderately, 


*  Ellis,  "  The  Criminal,"  page  120. 

f  "  Tobacco  in  Song  and  Story,"  pages  24  et  seq. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  159 

but  for  children  it  is  an  evil.  It  seems  to  act 
upon  the  juvenile  organization  like  a  mild  intox- 
icant, resulting  in  a  relaxed  or  over-excited 
nervous  state.  It  acts  as  a  stimulant  of  con- 
viviality among  the  "gangs"  of  street  boys  and 
makes  their  loafing  pleasanter. 

The  use  of  drugs  is  comparatively  rare,  but 

not  unknown.     Cocaine   "  fiends  "  appear  from 

time   to   time,  and   their  delin- 

Drugs. 

quency  is  usually  theft  incited  by 
desire  for  money  to  buy  the  drug. 

The  misuse  of  the  sex  functions  is  more  com- 
mon.    Ellis  finds  the  criminal  addicted  from  an 

early, age  to  all  kinds  of  natural 

Bad  sexual  habits. 

and  unnatural  sexual  acts.  Sex- 
ual excess  was  more  prominent  in  the  Jukes, 
Rodneys,  and  Ishmaelites  than  was  alcohol. 
The  number  of  prostitutes  (see  Chapter  I.,  Sec- 
tion B.)  in  New  York  and  the  implied  number 
of  feeders  for  them  shows  its  prevalence.  It  is 
found  that  the  father  of  the  juvenile  often  goes 
with  loose  women.  Misuse  of  the  sex  func- 
tions is  sometimes  a  disease,  sometimes  a  result 
of  bad  training  and  oversight  and  again  caused 


160  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

by  social  conditions,  but  in  some  cases  it  is  a 
cause  of  delinquency  directly  or  indirectly. 

By  bad  associates  we  mean  not  the  parents 

but    the    comrades   and  acquaintances   of   the 

child.*     It  is  often  stated  that 

Bad  associates. 

the  root  of  delinquency  is  the 
juvenile  growing  up  in  the  midst  of  seasoned 
crime.  The  New  York  Juvenile  Asylum  finds 
a  fruitful  source  of  offences  in  the  boys'  alliance 
with  junk  men  and  cellar  keepers. f  The  first 
send  the  boy  out  to  pick  "  junk "  or  "  any- 
thing "  and  dispose  of  his  wares.  The  second 
furnish  the  "  gang  "  a  place  to  congregate.  It 
is  in  such  resorts  that  "  Fagin  "  goes  on,  i.e., 
the  older  youth  has  younger  helpers  whom  he 
trains  to  pick  pockets,  etc.  In  other  ways  less 
pronounced  the  association  of  younger  and 
weaker  boys  with  older  and  delinquent  ones 
initiates  some  into  the  rank  of  the  offender. 

Bad  literature  has  its  effects  in  this  realm. 
Kelso  finds  it  a  cause  of  delinquency.^  Cady 

* "  The  Life  of  the  Street  as  it  affects  Juvenile  Delinquency." 
Jewish  Charities,  January,  1905,  page  11. 

f  Fifty-first  report,  page  39. 

J  J.  J.  Kelso,  "Work  for  Children."  Charities,  Vol.  II.,  page 
331. 


TEE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  161 

found  in  Waukesha  Reformatory  only  twenty- 
four   out  of    two   hundred  and 

Bad  literature. 

fifty-five  boys  who  had  read  a 
single  good  book.  "Diamond  Dick"  was  the 
usual  type.  It  is  not  unknown  to  find  counter- 
feiting and  even  murder  springing  from  bad 
reading.  French,  the  Orange  boy,  recently  con- 
victed for  sending  infernal  machines  through 
the  mails,  explained  that  he  had  obtained  his 
plans  from  pictures  of  similar  constructions 
published  in  the  papers. 

"  Work  "  for  January,  1904,  gives  an  example 
of  a  child  of  ten  who  held  up  another  and 
robbed  him  of  three  dollars.  The  robber  had 
read  dime  novels  from  the  age  of  seven.  He 
was  particularly  interested  in  Jesse  James,  and 
knew  more  of  him  than  of  Washington.  Ellis 
found  a  large  number  of  cases  caused  by  the 
reading  of  newspaper  details  of  such  criminals 
as  "  Jack  the  Ripper."  According  to  Cady  7% 
to  27%  of  the  news  printed  by  our  papers  is 
detail  of  crime  or  vice. 

Bad  theatres  are  from  this  standpoint  simply 
bad  literature  made  more  vivid.  Every  time  a 


162  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

"  Buffalo    Bill "    play    or    strikingly    melodra- 
matic   piece   is   played  in  New 

Cheap  theatres. 

York  there  follows  indictment 
of  children  for  robberies  and  woundings,  some- 
times causing  death,  while  "  playing  Indian  "  or 
bandit.  And  the  Newark  probation  officer 
states  this  as  a  cause  of  the  offences  committed 
by  his  wards.*  In  this  city  complaints  have 
been  entered  by  a  committee  of  prominent  men 
against  certain  theatres.  They  did  not  indict 
the  theatre  commonly  known  as  the  lowest. 
Why?  It  is  not  immoral  plays  with  the  sex 
appeal  —  it  is  that  style  of  theatre,  like  the 
Thalia  of  the  Bowery,  which  is  constantly 
filled  with  children,  wildly  applauding  a  bandit 
scene  and  hissing  the  villain  in  a  swash- 
buckling play.  The  delinquency  factor  arises 
from  two  things  —  uncontrolled  excitement  and 
a  craving  induced  in  the  poorer  children  which 
leads  them  to  steal  in  order  to  get  the  entrance 
fee. 

Loafing,  no    trade,  and    no    work    are   also 

*  Report  of  the  Probation  Officer  of  Essex  County,  NJ. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


163 


sources     of     delinquency.      Kelso  and   Schroff 
found     these     especially    great 

Loafing,  etc. 

causes     in     Pennsylvania's    of- 
fenders.* 

Speranza  examined  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  juvenile  delinquents  who  were  charged  with 
idleness  and  found  the  following  explanations 
of  the  culprits  :  f 


48  said  in  essence 

25 

22 

14 

6 

10 
36 

8 
18 

19 


"  We  are  good  for  nothing." 

"  Our  father  does  not  work." 

"  Work  is  fatiguing." 

"  Begging  is  work." 

"  Why  work  every  day  ?  " 

"  You  make  more  by  stealing." 

"  We  got  along  nicely  by  begging." 

"  We  have  n't  time  to  work." 

"  Our  employers  discharged  us,  how 

can  we  work  ?  " 
"  My  father  says  only  fools  work." 


This  loafing  often  grows  to  such  proportions 

that  it  amounts  to  a  disease.     In  an  attempt  to 

redeem    fallen    women    it   was 

Loftfiuffi 

found  almost  impossible  to  make 
them  work  at  honest  labor.  They  could  do  only 
the  coarsest  work,  and  therefore  received  little 

•  "  Pennsylvania's  Unfortunate  Children." 
f"  Criminality  in  Children." 


164  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

pay,  but  at  their  trade  they  earned  easily  five  to 
fifty  dollars  a  day  and  spent  it  all  foolishly. 

So  it  is  with  the  youth  who  has  no  regular 

work  and  has  not  been  trained  to  a  trade  and 

steady    labor.     He    finds    work 

No  regular  work. 

unbearable  and  would  rather 
pick  up  a  living  by  begging  or  stealing  than 
undergo  the  ordeal  of  steady  effort  and  low  pay 
at  rough  labor.  For  example,  a  delinquent 
came  to  the  writer  with  the  story  that  his 
father  was  dying  and  he  needed  money  to  get 
home  to  the  patient.  So  cunning  was  his  plea 
that  he  obtained  the  money,  but  was  later  in- 
dicted for  obtaining  it  under  false  pretences. 

He  begged  for  one  more  chance.  After  much 
wrestling  this  was  granted  and  the  writer 
started  in  the  work  of  reform.  The  only  condi- 
tion on  which  the  sentence  was  suspended  by 
the  judge  was  that  my  culprit  should  prove 
himself,  because  he  had  been  at  this  for 
years,  robbing  everybody  he  could.  The  writer 
wrestled  for  five  months,  sometimes  all  day  long, 
with  this  delinquent.  It  was  a  marvel  to  see 
how  the  malefactor  would  plan  and  scheme  and 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  165 

worry  and  labor  to  get  out  of  paying  a  debt  of 
fifty  cents.  He  worked  harder  to  avoid  paying 
the  sum  of  five  dollars  than  he  would  have  had 
to  work  at  chopping  wood  for  fifteen  dollars. 
He  would  do  anything  except  quit  his  dishonest 
ways. 

After  months  of  struggle  the  writer  took  him 
on  a  cold  night  in  December  and  insisted  that 
he  pay  the  debt  at  once  or  deliver  up  his  sleek 
overcoat,  tie-pin,  collar,  and  spick  and  span 
shirt.  "  Would  you  do  this  a  night  so  bitterly 
cold?"  "I  would,  as  you  have  taken  the 
money  of  a  poor  widow  washing  for  her  living." 
"  For  God's  sake  don't  and  I  will  pay  to- 
morrow." "Do  it  now."  So  the  protracted 
struggle  went  on  for  hours  and  only  when  the 
writer  backed  him  remorselessly  up  against 
prison  and  nakedness  and  cold,  or  the  paying  of 
the  debt,  for  which  he  had  abundant  means  of 
liquidation,  did  he  settle.  Half  an  hour  after 
he  asked  for  my  recommendation  on  the  grounds 
that  he  had  done  the  square  thing. 

Habits  of  lax  honesty  are  often  found  in  the 
juvenile  and  lead  him  surely  to  the  court.  Per- 


166  THE  YOUNG   MALEFACTOR. 

haps    no   path   is   more    certain    than   that   of 
the  second-hand  store  and  junk 

Dishonesty. 

dealer.  The  parent  sends  the 
child  to  pick  coal  or  junk,  and  sends  him  to  the 
second-hand  dealer  with  goods  to  sell.  It  is 
only  a  step  before  this  becomes  a  habit  of 
stealing  all  he  can  find.  The  writer  has  seen 
numerous  cases  where  lead  piping,  brass,  copper, 
and  books  have  been  stolen  and  sold  to  the 
second-hand  dealer  and  junkman  for  theatre 
tickets. 

Crap-shooting  is  a  favorite  beginning  with  the 
delinquent   according    to  the  asylum  reports.* 

Jane  Addams  finds  the  gambling 

Gambling.  .  . 

impulse  strong  among  her  delin- 
quents. Ellis  gives  cases  of  criminals  who 
played  cards  two  days  without  intermission. 
One  gambled  away  his  rations  and  died  of 
starvation.  Another  was  so  absorbed  that  he 
forgot  his  approaching  execution.!  More  than 
once  this  passion  has  led  to  the  arrest  of  other- 

»  N.Y.J.A.,  page  38 ;     "  Delinquent  Children,"  Charities,  Vol. 
V1IL,  page  490. 
t"The  Criminal,"  page  144. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  167 

wise  good  boys,  as  is  well  known  to  all  settle- 
ment workers. 

VII.       FAMILY    CAUSES. 

The  great  cause  is  the  non  or  semi-functionary 
home.  That  the  home  is  at  the  root  of  most 

The  deficient  home.    SOcial    6vils    is    SO    often  asserted 

introduction.  ^   to   make  its  repetition  here 

seem  trite.  Yet  the  attempt  is  made  not  only  to 
state  this  fact,  but  also  to  indicate  precisely  how. 
From  over  a  dozen  prominent  workers  with 
delinquents  only  one,  the  superintendent  of  the 
House  of  Refuge,  even  clearly  indicated  the 
home  as  among  the  first  two  causes  of  delin- 
quency. Another  prominent  leader  said  it 
would  be  brutally  unjust  to  indicate  the  home, 
and  therefore  the  parents,  as  the  prime  agents  in 
this  realm,  for  said  she,  "  They  can  not  help  it." 
It  is  not  a  question,  however,  of  who  is  to 
blame.  We  are  not  seeking  culprits,  but  only 
—  and  dispassionately  —  causes. 

It  will  be  seen  that  all  the  factors  depicted 
under  "  physical  causes,"  such  as  geography, 
climate,  and  temperature,  while  really  produc- 


168  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

ing  delinquency,  yet  become  active  only  when 

*      not      Wel1 


A    summary    of 

phy8icaicauBe8  shows  ^ed  ;   and   b     a   well-Organized 

them  active  only  in  a  J 

deficient  home.  home  is  meant  healthy  parents, 

healthy  children,  with  such  physical,  mental,  and 
ethical  ability  that  the  home  is  a  wholesome 
unit,  is  in  a  word  organized.  One  does  not 
often  blame  parents  and  children  for  being  ill  or 
malformed,  nor  do  we  blame  the  parents  if  the 
atmosphere  of  the  home  is  not  thoroughly  good, 
but  the  fact  remains,  disorganization  exists  and 
the  way  is  open  for  delinquency  to  enter. 
Whether  the  parents  distil  illegal  whiskey,  let 
the  children  run  loose  in  a  summer  resort,  a 
naval  or  military  station  with  its  quota  of  bad 
women,  or  train  the  child  to  carry  on  a  feud,  is 
all  one  from  our  standpoint.  They  may  be 
doing  the  best  they  can  but  the  home  is  not  well 
organized  ;  it  is  only  semi-functionary.  No 
home  is  good  unless  the  children  are  recognized 
practically,  not  theoretically,  as  of  greater 
importance  than  any  material  thing  pertaining 
thereto.  Whether  it  is  the  parent  who  is  so 
impoverished  or  ignorant  that  he  sacrifices  them 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOE.  169 

for  wages  or  for  food;  or  whether  it  is  the 
middle  or  better  class  parent  who  is  so  ignorant 
or  lazy  that  he  does  not  properly  control  the 
child,  or  whether  it  is  the  stupid  parent  who  lets 
the  child  become  permanently  hurt  by  lack  of 
care  in  hot  weather,  it  is  all  one  and  the  same 
thing,  the  home  is  non  or  semi-functionary,  the 
parent  is  not  doing  what  he  was  made  for  doing. 
If  we  review  the  factors  cited  under  social 
progress  and  social  machinery  we  shall  find  the 
The  renitant  factors  same  thing  true.  The  standard 

are  effective  only  in  a 

bad  home.  to  which  the  child  is  asked  to 

rise  by  the  law,  complex  as  it  may  be,  is  yet 
such  that  a  child  reasonably  well  brought  up  in 
a  well-organized  home  will  not  only  pass  the 
requirements  but  consider  that  mere  avoidance 
of  illegality  is  not  sufficient.  The  waste  product, 
the  refuse  of  our  doing  things,  comes  from  the 
disorganized  home.  The  parent  may  be  ill, 
tainted,  insane,  over-strained  in  business,  and 
this  may  not  be  his  fault  but  it  is  his  misfortune. 
He  is  not  able  to  keep  his  children  out  of  range 
of  delinquency  factors  ;  they  fail  therefore. 
The  essence  of  the  State's  failure  in  correc- 


170  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

tional   institutions   is   the   same.     By  common 
The  eBBence  of  the  consent  criminologists  recognize 

State's    failure    ie  it.    tfa    t  f        ^  h      h  h    d 

lack     of     forming     a 

home-  homes,    or   whose    homes    have 

failed,  the  State  should  stand  in  loco  parentis 
and  furnish  a  foster  home  for  its  wards.  By 
this  is  meant  not  a  place  where  the  criminal  will 
be  coddled,  but  where  he  will  be  made  to  work 
hard,  and  at  wholesome  labor,  under  wholesome 
influences,  and  with  adapted  education.  The 
reason  the  State  fails  is  because  the  home  she 
furnishes  is  non  or  semi-functionary.  She  acts 
as  though  simply  locking  a  defective  up  in  isola- 
tion, standing  guard  over  him  with  a  rifle,  and 
keeping  him  there  for  a  fixed  period  would 
somehow  produce  the  effect  of  a  good  home  and 
render  the  malefactor  an  honest  citizen. 

Again  from  this  standpoint  the  baneful  forces 
of  immigration  reduce  to  the  same  denominator. 

The  downward  fac-  Tt  is  not  the  fact  of  immigration 
tors  of  immigration  nor  fae  WOrking  of  the  law  there 

become  baneful    only 

in  the  defective  home,  stated  that  causes  delinquency 
per  se ;  it  is  that  these  impulses  act  on  a  home 
not  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  them. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  171 

Nor   is   it   otherwise   with   dispositional  and 
physiological  causes.     Not  a  single  natural  im- 
there  tabulated  but  is  a 


become      functionary    gource     Qf     wholeSOme    living,    if 

only  under   defective 

parents.  properly  guided.    But  the  parent 

who  for  lack  of  physical  strength,  laziness,  igno- 
rance or  incompetence  does  not  so  guide,  the 
parent  is  the  real  source,  —  and  this  is  so  clearly 
recognized  that  the  courts  are  beginning  to  hold 
the  parent  of  the  offender  and  rigorously  demand 
that  there  be  no  whining  about  inability  to 
guide  the  child.  It  must  be  done,  one  may  say, 
whether  the  parent  thinks  he  is  able  or  not.  A 
case  came  to  the  writer's  notice  of  a  father  with 
two  boys  who  broke  windows  and  destroyed 
property.  Complaints  elicited  only  apologies 
and  protestations  of  inability  to  control.  The 
court  decided  that  the  parent  could  not  control 
the  child,  but  must  pay  for  the  property  and  be 
held  responsible  at  court  for  future  misdeeds. 
The  offences  were  not  repeated.  The  judge  had 
made  the  home  functionary. 

But  when  a  child   is    abnormal  is  it  then  a 
case  of  bad  home  ?     Largely,  yes.     The  parents 


172  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

are   physically  weak    or   they  have   allowed  a 

The  above   is   true    Congenital      defect      to      gO      Un- 
even   when    the    im- 
pulses are  normal,        treated.  The  child  does  not  come 

before  the  court  for  its  first  offence.  Usually 
the  parent  has  knowledge  that  the  child  is 
dangerous  before  the  criminal  act.  It  has  been 
the  writer's  experience  that  parents  knowingly 
left  the  abnormal  child  at  large  rather  than  take 
the  trouble  to  constantly  watch  the  defective, 
or  put  it  in  an  institution.  Society  has  a  right 
to  expect  a  home  to  take  care  of  its  sick.  And 
this  right  springs  from  a  fact  which  experience 
has  taught,  —  the  family  is  able  so  to  do  unless 
it  is  inherently  weak,  i.e.,  unless  it  is  non  or 
semi-functionary.  Again,  let  it  be  repeated,  this 
is  not  indiscriminating  blame ;  we  may  sympa- 
thize but  we  must  acknowledge  the  fact  that 
the  reason  a  defective  child  becomes  delinquent 
in  actual  life  is  because  the  home  was  too  weak 
to  do  its  function  alone. 

The  same  is  true  of  individual  causes,  —  bad 
habits  of  various  kinds  stated.  Is  it  not  true 
that  a  child  of  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age  will 
not  become  a  drunkard  if  his  parents  are  wide 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  173 

awake?     If  there  is  a  neurotic   disposition  in- 
NO  child  becomes  ducing    dipsomania,     this     will 
"  lie  have  been  recognized  years  ago 


ca^  of  bad  habits  is  and  appropriate  measures  taken 

largely  poor  parental  rr      * 

oversight.  by    the     well-organized     home. 

Nor  will  a  child  of  ten  contract  the  tobacco 
habit  without  his  parents'  knowledge,  if  they  are 
functionary.  It  is  lack  of  persistent,  unrelent- 
ing, yet  tactful  effort  on  the  part  of  the  guar- 
dian which  allows  the  child  with  such  tendencies 
to  indulge  them.  If  the  youth  begins  using 
cocaine  there  is  almost  always  a  history  of 
parental  weakness,  —  they  themselves  have  used 
the  drug  or  there  has  not  been  stalwart  super- 
vision. And  certainly  no  girl  of  thirteen  to 
sixteen  can  become  a  prostitute  unless  the  home 
is  almost  non-functionary,  for  it  has  been  seen 
that  very  few  such  cases  spring  from  abnormal 
desire.  In  such  cases  where  there  is  heightened 
sexuality  the  alert  parent  knows  it  long  before 
prostitution  is  reached  and  most  parents  alive  to 
civic  duty  and  the  real  welfare  of  the  offspring 
would  resort  to  a  surgical  operation  under  the 
direction  of  the  family  physician  rather  than  by 


174  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

indecision  allow  the  unfortunate  to  enter  such  a 
life.  Is  it  not  true  that  even  poverty-stricken 
parents  who  realize  their  duty  will  avoid  sending 
a  child  to  saloons,  or  putting  him  in  alliance 
with  the  junkman  and  second-hand  dealer? 
Experience  with  the  families  of  the  poor  has 
taught  that  it  is  not  the  sturdy  poor  who  allow 
the  child  to  drift,  it  is  the  shiftless,  the  incom- 
petent, the  non-functionary. 

Not  more   than  20%  of  homes  become  delin- 
quent.    These   are    the    families   weakened   in 

SOme    °ne    °f   th 


The   non   or    Bemi- 

functionary     home  above  stated,  and   they  furnish 

may  be  divided  Into  * 

three  classes  :  the    susceptible    matrix    which 

(1.)     The  lax  home. 

(2.)    The  border-  fosters    the    bacteria   of    delin- 

landers'  home.  rr-i  t  i 

(3.)  Th«  vicious  quency.  These  homes  may  be 
divided  into  three  classes  j^(l) 
the  lax  home  ;  (2)  the  borderlanders'  home  ;  (3) 
the  vicious  home.  Of  the  lax  home  we  may 
speak  first.  In  this  home  there  may  or  may  not 
be  economic  misfortune,  illness,  abnormality  or 
the  like.  The  home  may  appear  good  and  the 
parents  usually  intelligent,  but  this  is  not  the 
weak  spot. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  175 

The  baneful  source  is  a  lack  of  unity  in  the 

home.     The    father    leaves    too   much    to    the 

mother :     the     father    has    not 

(1.)     The    baneful 

spot  in  the  lax  home  wholesome  ideals  himself.     The 

is  lack  of  wholesome 

unity  and  incompetent  home  has  not  the  home  atmos- 

oversight.  _  .      . 

phere.  (Quarreling  and  recrimi- 
nations are  often  present.  And  the  main  fact 
of  all  from  the  standpoint  of  this  study  is  that 
the  children  are  not  given  wise  oversight.  Boys 
and  girls  are  out  in  the  street  long  after  dark. 
There  is  no  insistence  on  obedience  ;  no  dignity 
of  treatment,  but  a  "  pecking "  at  the  child 
when  he  does  petty  things  and  a  blank  incompe- 
tence or  blind  rage  when  he  commits  serious 
acts  of  disobedience.  Moreover,  it  is  impossible 
to  convince  the  parent.  He  blames  everybody 
but  himself  and  the  child.  If  a  club  leader 
reports  misdemeanor  the  parent  takes  the  child 
from  the  club.  Likewise  the  complaints  of  a 
teacher  or  neighbor  are  received  with  resentment. 
The  fact  that  the  child  is  a  nuisance  to  others 
does  not  seem  to  penetrate  the  mind  of  the 
parent.  He  thinks  that  others  take  too  seriously 
the  pranks  of  his  child.  It  is  only  when  a 


176  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

stinging  rebuke  from  the  court  is  administered, 
and  a  fine  on  the  instalment  plan  recalls  the 
circumstance  periodically,  that  the  parent  begins 
to  waken  to  the  situation,  and  the  child  can  thus 
be  recovered.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the 
home,  —  the  parent,  —  is  the  real  cause  of  de- 
linquency. 

Below   the  lax  home  is  that   of  the  border- 
lander,  and  there  are  all  grades  of  descent  to  it. 
(2.)  The  border-  Only  types  can  be  given.     Take 
landers' home. -The  fae   home    where    there   are    a 

widow  or  widower 

with  a  large  young  number  of  small  children  semi- 

family ;     the     family 

with  emphasized  idio-  orphans.     If  the  mother  is  left 

syncrasies;  the  home 

with  too  many  chii-  alone  she  has  a  problem  before 

dren :  the  family  on  an    i  r  •    r      r  i  j 

unstable  economic    her      Wnich     feW    WOmen     WOUld 

ba8lB-  care  to  solve,  and  when  her  re- 

sources are  only  washing,  scrubbing  offices,  and 
the  like,  the  situation  becomes  acute.  She  is 
on  the  borderland  of  dependence  or  delinquency. 
The  children  can  not  be  left  alone,  or  left  to  the 
care  of  neighbors,  nor  can  a  care-taker  be  hired. 
The  mother  must  leave  them  to  their  own  re- 
sources and  they  drift  almost  inevitably  to  the 
influences  of  the  street.  They  avoid  school 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  177 

duties ;  they  are  compelled  to  work  at  too  early 
an  age  and  usually  at  unwholesome  labor.  For 
example,  the  big  stores  are  cleaned  after  all  the 
work  of  the  day.  For  this  work  scrubwomen 
are  often  employed  all  night.  This  was  the 
case  with  several  delinquent  families.  In  the 
day-time  the  mother  had  to  sleep ;  in  the  night 
the  children  were  left  alone,  little  girls  on  the 
street  long  after  dark.  The  "  house  "  was  fur- 
nished and  run  on  the  scale  of  a  city  "  home  " 
with  five  people  living  on  a  scrubwoman's  in- 
come of  seven  dollars  to  nine  dollars  a  week. 

When  the  father  is  alone  with  them  the  case 
is  not  much  otherwise.  He  may  earn  at  his 
rough  work  a  little  more  than  the  mother,  but 
he  is  not  as  competent  to  give  the  right  care  to 
his  children,  and  when,  as  is  often  the  case  of 
the  bordeiiander,  there  is  drunkenness  in  the 
parent  remaining,  the  children  are  on  the  vergej 
any  slightly  unfavorable  circumstance  will  push 
them  over  into  delinquency.  It  is  such  a  parent 
who  will  send  the  children  to  the  saloon  for  his 
beer,  or  to  pick  coal  or  junk.  He  does  not  ask 
questions  as  to  how  the  articles  brought  are 


178  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

obtained.  He  and  his  family  are  now  into  de- 
linquency, now  into  dependence,  until  the 
standard  is  lowered  permanently  and  the  chil- 
dren one  by  one  come  before  the  court. 

Another  class  of  borderlander  is  that  which 

approaches   the   abnormal.      The  parents   have 

The   family   with  been    noticeably     defective     in 

emphasized    idiosyn- 
crasies, body   and    mind  without   being 

insane.  They  are  not  deft  at  work.  They  may 
have  been  at  times  in  some  poor-house  and  have 
been  encouraged  to  marry  for  "  the  comforts  of 
a  home."  The  children  often  appear  with  the 
anomalies  of  the  parents  emphasized ;  none  of 
them  are  well  favored.  For  example,  a  negro 
of  Montclair,  himself  inefficient,  married  a  wife 
who  developed  a  cancer.  Charitable  people 
bought  medicines,  cared  for  the  home,  and  pro- 
posed to  send  the  patient  to  a  hospital.  The 
husband  agreed  on  condition  that  these  charita- 
ble people  would  pay  for  a  housekeeper  to  care 
for  him  and  his  children.  Although  he  did  no 
regular  work  and  ate  the  dainties  bought  for 
the  patient  it  seemed  too  harsh  to  make  him 
shoulder  the  burden.  At  the  death  of  his  wife 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  179 

he  applied  for  money  to  go  south.  It  seemed  a 
good  way  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  in  spite  of  pro- 
test this  was  done.  The  children  were  left  to 
the  care  of  the  philanthropic.  In  less  than  nine 
months  he  reappeared  with  a  younger  wife  and 
is  now  increasing  the  burden  of  town  support 
for  him  and  his  family.  Several  of  the  children 
are  already  delinquent  and  the  home  is  a  typical 
borderlander's. 

Another  case  of  borderlander's  family  is  that 

in  which  there  are  too  many  children  for  proper 

The  home  with  too  care-     The    father    drinks    and 

many    childien,    and    WQrkg  ftt    unremunerative    labor, 
the  family  on  an  un- 
stable economic  basis.  jje  js  nofc  vicious  but  only  easy- 

going,  careless,  good-natured.  But  the  mother 
is  constantly  pulled  down  by  the  burden  of 
child-bearing.  The  home  is  not  clean,  the 
children  are  not  properly  fed  or  cared  for. 
There  is  no  effective  discipline.  The  children 
are  always  in  trouble  of  some  sort,  and  the 
whole  family  on  the  verge  of  delinquency. 
When  this  is  complicated  with  the  fact  that 
neither  parent  when  single  could  earn  an  ade- 
quate living,  and  now,  married  with  a  large 


180  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

family  and  the  careless  drinking  and  loafing 
habits  of  both,  it  is  every  day  a  question  of 
enough  bread.  Coal  is  bought  by  the  pailful, 
provisions  procured  on  credit  at  some  place 
where  an  account  may  be  had.  The  children 
are  sent  to  do  the  shopping  and  to  get  credit 
wherever  they  may.  Not  seldom  do  they  fall 
into  the  habit  of  buying  things  for  themselves 
on  credit,  or  stealing  whatever  they  can.  The 
family  is  on  the  border  line  and  will  become 
delinquent  at  the  slightest  provocation. 

Now  let  any  calamity  come   to  such  homes 

and  there  is  not  sufficient  organization  to  resist. 

If  the  mother  dies,  a  new  wife 

In   the  borderland- 

er's  home  step-parent-  Who  will  be  Strong  CUOUgh  to 
age,  illegitimacy,  and  -I>VA- 

orphanage  produce  shoulder  the  responsibility  is  not 
easily  found,  nor  in  the  event 
of  the  father's  death  will  another  man  be  found 
to  bear  the  burden.  Sometimes  there  is  an 
illegitimate  child  in  the  home.  The  father  may 
have  been  compelled  by  law  to  marry  the 
mother.  The  presence  of  the  unwelcome  infant 
is  a  source  of  recrimination.  If  it  fails  to  take 
advantage  of  the  many  opportunities  given  it  to 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  181 

die,  every  mouthful  of  food  is  begrudged  it. 
The  child  is  slowly  pushed  on  the  street.  If 
both  the  parents  die,  the  children,  never  well- 
trained,  are  adrift  in  a  locality  —  the  poorest  — 
to  which  the  law  of  expensive  rents  has  pushed 
them.  Relatives  are  unwilling  to  take  the 
orphans.  Delinquency  is  a  foregone  conclusion. 
It  is  from  analogous  cases  that  40%  of  juvenile 
offenders  arise. 

Still  oelow  these  is  the  criminal   or   vicious 
home,  examples  of  which  are  given  in  Chapter 
(3.)   The    vicious  L>    Section    B,    and    there    are 
home-  several  grades  even  here.    There 

may  be  desertion  on  the  part  of  one  parent, 
which  implies  a  long  period  of  vicious  influ- 
ence before.  There  is  often  illegitimacy  with 
its  crime-breeding  influence.  To  the  drunken- 
ness of  parents  may  be  added  striking  immoral- 
ity. In  addition  to  instruction  in  prostitution 
and  unnatural  sexual  actions  the  child  is  some- 
times taught  to  sing  obscene  songs  in  low 
saloons  and  habituated  with  fallen  women  and 
their  consorts.  Boys  are  sent  out  under  the 
guise  of  street  occupations  and  junk-picking  to 


182  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

steal.  They  are  called  "  smart "  when  they 
succeed.  For  example,  one  boy's  parents  were 
proud  of  him  because  he  supplied  them  regu- 
larly with  stolen  milk.  Another  girl  revealed 
on  question  that  her  parents  sent  ner  to  offices 
to  commit  prostitution  under  the  guise  of  ped- 
dling. It  is  from  such  homes  that  a  number  of 
those  "  inherently  vicious  "  and  "  natural  "  crimi- 
nals come. 

To  recapitulate,  we  have  seen  that  the  delin- 
quency  factors  under  physical   causes   can   be 

successfully  opposed  by  a  Well- 
Summary  and  con- 
clusion that  the  non  organized     home ;      that    social 

or     semi-functionary 

home  is  tbe  great  causes  act  only  on  the  children 
not  sufficiently  protected  by 
parental  guidance  ;  that  economic  forces  as  they 
affect  the  child  come  only  through  the  weakness 
of  the  guardians ;  the  child  depends  and  has  a 
right  to  depend  upon  his  parents  for  support 
and  the  necessities  of  life.  We  have  seen  that 
all  normal  factors  of  dispositional  and  physiolog- 
ical causes  can  be  turned  not  merely  against 
delinquency  but  be  made  factors  for  good  by 
parents  who  are  not  themselves  weak.  And  the 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  183 

abnormal  factors  are  either  transmitted  by  defec- 
tive parents  or  acquired  through  lack  of  wise 
care,  being  sometimes  allowed  to  develop  because 
the  guardians  lacked  initiative.  In  case  of  acci- 
dental misbirth  delinquency  could  be  prevented 
by  the  well-organized  family.  It  is  almost  uni- 
versally true  that  the  causes  named  individual 
are  yet  mostly  due  to  the  inefficiency  of  parent 
and  home,  when  they  become  active  in  producing 
offences.  And  finally  we  have  seen  that  the 
sources  tabulated  under  family  causes  spring 
most  directly  of  all  from  defective  home  condi- 
tions. Justly  counting  the  parent  as  the  essen- 
tial part  of  a  home  we  may  therefore  include  his 
defects  under  those  of  the  home,  and  conclude 
that  all  the  delinquency  factors,  because  they  be- 
come operative  only  in  a  weakened  home,  may 
be  summed  up  in  one  great  cause  which  may  be 
named,  the  non  or  semi-functionary  home. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WHAT   IS  TO  BE  DONE? 
TREATMENT. 

THE  history   of    the   treatment   of    juvenile 

delinquency  may  be  divided   into  two   periods 

Historical  treatment  which    may   be   called    ancient 

of  the  young  offender.    and     modem.*       Chronologically 

the  ancient  period  extends  to  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  modern  has  its 
rise  during  the  period  of  the  industrial  revolu- 
tion and  is  more  or  less  directly  connected  with 
the  factory  legislation  in  favor  of  women  and 
children.  Apparently  for  the  first  time  the 
serious  position  of  British  juveniles  compelled 
English  law  to  differentiate  in  favor  of  them. 

*As  far  as  the  writer  knows  there  is  no  history  of  delinquency 
extant.  The  facts  here  given  have  been  gathered,  (1)  from 
scattered  pamphlets,  as  reports  of  various  institutions  existing,  and 
from  these  the  trend  of  events  has  been  inferred ;  (2)  by  visita- 
tions of  the  old  and  new  plants  and  by  talks  with  older  workers, 
former  customs  have  been  studied.  The  ancient  idea  can  be  seen 
by  a  study  of  the  architecture  of  the  old  plants  as  compared  with 
the  new. 

(184) 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  185 

Before  the  courts  children  were  not  treated  as 
adults ;  it  was  recognized  that  they  could  not 
make  a  fair  bargain  for  their  labor  without  pro- 
tection from  the  law.  This  beginning,  dealing 
with  parish  children,  dependents,  and  children 
in  the  factories,  has  extended  slowly  until  at  the 
present  day  it  covers  all  the  life  of  juveniles  as 
far  as  the  law  is  concerned.  No  child  below 
sixteen  is  considered  a  criminal  even  if  he  has 
committed  the  most  criminal  acts. 

During  the  first  period  there  is  the  slow 
growth  of  a  penology  from  a  time  when  the 
treatment  sprang  from  anger  at  the  offence 
merely.  The  delinquent  was  not  differentiated ; 
age  made  no  difference ;  the  offender  was  pun- 
ished by  sudden  violence  like  lynching,  he  was 
annihilated.  From  this  period  of  thoughtless- 
ness there  finally  emerges  a  primitive  penology 
with  one  fundamental  principle,  i.e.,  stern  and 
cruel  treatment  for  punitive  purposes.  Crime 
was  presumed  to  be  a  product  of  vicious  and 
recalcitrant  will,  to  be  suppressed  by  violence 
without  regard  to  age.  Even  to  the  close  of 
the  ancient  period  this  penology  held  its  essen- 


186  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

tials  and  still  survives  in  many  quarters.  In 
England  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  there  were  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  capital  offences.  Death  was  the  punish- 
ment for  theft  exceeding  the  value  of  a 
sheep  and  that  sanction  was  enforced  on  old 
as  well  as  young.  Prisons  were  filthy  and 
treatment  brutal.  Grown  criminals  and  girls 
were  sometimes  locked  in  the  same  cell.  A 
child  of  nine  was  sentenced  to  death  for 
stealing  two  and  a  half  pence  worth  of  paint. 
With  recognition  of  the  age  factor  by  law 
there  rises  the  clear  definition  of  the  difference 
The  second  period:  between  crime  and  delinquency 
transition.  an(j  an  unwiiiingness  to  treat  a 

child  as  a  grown  criminal.  This  transition  is 
illustrated  by  a  Russian  trial.  A  girl  of  twelve 
had  murdered  a  child  of  four.  In  spite  of  clear 
proof  of  guilt  she  was  acquitted.  The  jury- 
said,  "  The  law  will  deepen  the  branding  of  this 
girl  by  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  prison  life  with 
adult  criminals.  We  prefer  to  deliver  her  from 
the  law  altogether."  * 

*  Ellis,  "  The  Criminal,"  page  292. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  187 

By  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  modern 
period  was  well  inaugurated.      It  is  character- 
ized by  a  careful  study  of   the 

The  modern  period.  ..  „  ,  . 

complex  forces  which  cause 
crime  and  by  a  realization  of  the  folly  of  any 
other  treatment  than  that  which  reforms.  The 
undercurrents  are  seen ;  medico-legal  experts 
employed ;  insanity,  crime,  and  delinquency  dif- 
ferentiated, even  to  methods  of  trial  and  treat- 
ment. The  law  clearly  distinguishes  between 
the  juvenile  and  the  adult.  It  sets  the  boundary 
of  delinquency  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  the 
practical  workers  enunciate  the  principle  that 
punishment  as  an  end  has  no  place  in  their 
system  and  should  never  be  used  except  for 
educational  purposes.  The  aim  of  treatment  is 
not  to  punish,  but  to  reform ;  the  treatment  is 
framed  to  fit  the  offender,  and  not  his  crime. 
These  changes  have  resulted  from  experience, 
not  from  sentimentality.  The  old  system 

These  changes   are    has     proven     itself    to     have    One 
the  result  of  experi- 
ment, serious  drawback,  —  it  does  not 

work,  either  in  curing  delinquency  or  prevent- 
ing  crime.     For  example,  three   brothers  were 


188  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

thieves,  the  older  leading  the  younger.  The 
younger  two  were  handled  by  the  New  York 
Children's  Aid  at  a  cost  of  $30.  They  were 
both  recovered,  served  honorably  in  the  war, 
and  settled  to  good  lives  on  a  farm.  The 
oldest  boy  was  handled  by  the  old  method  of 
prison  and  punishment.  He  cost  the  State  $100 
for  trial  and  arrest,  $750  for  prison  treatment, 
and  he  made  away  with  $2,000  worth  of 
property.  Even  if  he  had  been  recovered  he 
would  have  cost  just  190  times  as  much  as  by 
the  new  method  under  the  Children's  Aid. 

Why,  then,    are  not   the  new  methods  more 

widely  used  ?     The  old  ideas  are  outgrown,  but 

why  the  new  meth-  the  new  are  held  down  by  the 

odn    are     not     more 

widely  uued.  fact    that    millions    have    been 

expended  for  buildings  and  paraphernalia. 
Thousands  of  men  earn  their  livings  so,  and 
politicians  control  these  situations.  The  men 
put  in  power  through  politics  have  not  often  a 
broad  grasp  011  the  field.  Not  only  so,  but  the 
new  ideas  are  not  yet  clearly  enunciated. 
Among  men  and  women  who  have  worked 
decades  with  delinquents  the  broad  trend  of 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  189 

events  is  not  realized.  They  are  usually  busy 
with  one  section  and  ignorant  often  of  the  work 
in  collateral  lines.  There  is  a  nebulosity  as  to 
what  should  be  done,  but  the  nebula  is  con- 
densing and  certain  great  principles  begin  to 
appear. 

The   first   step  was   naturally  to   reform  the 

prison  buildings,  etc.     The  property  was  made 

The  firBt  etep  was  much     better>     improved     ma- 

reform  of  plants,  and  cilery  steel  Cells  and  the 
the  rise  of  th«  institu-  J  ' 


tion  idea.  \{^Q  inaugurated.     But  the  de- 

linquent was  not  reformed.  Next  comes  sepa- 
ration of  juvenile  from  adult  institutions  and 
the  development  of  the  institution  idea.  The 
young  offenders  are  gathered  into  huge 
"  schools,"  "  reformatories,"  "  homes,"  and  the 
tendency  was  to  make  these  as  big,  imposing, 
and  as  beautiful  as  possible.  All  kinds  [yet 
exist  and  a  division  along  religious  lines  appears 
first.  If  the  delinquent  has  a  nominal  religion 
he  is  sent  to  an  institution  of  the  same  stripe  if 
possible.  Also  there  is  an  unconscious  division 
along  the  line  of  seriousness  of  offences.  The 
lighter  organizations  in  America  tend  to  be 


190  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

named  "  asylums,"  "  refuges,"  "  schools," 
"homes,"  "farms,"  "republics,"  etc.  The 
sterner  are  named  "  State  homes,"  "  reforma- 
tories," and  the  like ;  there  is  also  in  these 
latter  no  division  along  religious  lines.  A 
tendency  to  specialization  is  arising,  i.e.,  George 
Junior  Republics  receive  only  certain  offenders. 
Elmira  has  an  admittance  restriction.  But  a 
most  necessary  division  has  not  yet  come,  —  the 
unfortunate,  the  delinquent,  the  morbid,  and 
"  natural "  offenders  are  still  mixed. 

For  example,  in  one  institution  a  negro  was 
brought  up.  All  the  examination  went  on  with 
ordinary  facility  until  it  came  to  his  trouble. 
Then  with  perfectly  solemn  face  he  told  me 
how  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth  appeared  every 
night  to  him.  Also  the  devil  and  one  or  two 
witches  came  and  told  him  where  to  go  to  find 
hidden  treasures.  I  asked  him  why  he  con- 
sidered these  things  as  "  troubles."  He  said 
they  were  temptations  but  "the  Lord"  saved 
him.  "  Does  the  Lord  also  speak  to  you  ? " 
With  a  face  all  illuminated  he  asserted  that 
every  night  the  Lord  appeared.  He  described 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  191 

Him  in  detail  and  his  description  was  as  weird 
and  strange  as  an  apocalypse  of  Greek  times 
combined  with  the  medicine  doctor's  vision  of 
an  African  savage's  god. 

The  next  —  "  patient  "  I  find  myself  saying. 
The  next  was  a  boy  in  his  teens  —  clean, 
straight  face  and  honest  eyes.  He  had  been 
plied  with  drink  and  sent  up  on  a  charge  of 
abusive  language.  "Did  you  doit?"  was  my 
question.  "  I  don't  know.  I  don't  remember." 
"  Were  you  ever  arrested  before  ?  "  "  Never  in 
my  life."  "Are  you  ashamed  of  being  here?" 
I  did  not  need  any  answer,  for  as  the  tears  burst 
from  him  I  saw  how  crushed  he  was. 

Again  in  the  same  institution  were  neurotic 
patients,  men  with  epilepsy  veiled,  men  so 
ignorant  they  could  not  spell  their  names, 
college  graduates,  and  with  them  men  of 
embruted  life.  One  said  to  me  on  examination, 
"  Drink  is  the  cause  of  my  troubles."  "  Can't 
you  stop  ?  "  "  No."  "  Well,  what  were  you 
sent  here  for?"  "Common  drunk."  And  he 
had  been  there  half  a  dozen  times.  With  these 
were  Negroes,  Sicilians,  Neapolitans,  Austrians, 


192  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

Russians,  Jews,  Irish,  English,  American, 
German,  and  other  combinations,  as  though 
the  confraternity  of  this  sub-world  had  been 
swept  together  in  one  pile  and  shovelled  there. 
There  were  several  grades  of  insane,  professional 
criminals,  occasional  and  born  criminals,  all 
mixed  with  the  loafer  and  the  "  common  drunk." 
Now,  who  will  tell  us  what  to  do  with  such  a 
combination?  As  well  try  to  drive  a  squirrel 
and  an  ox  together  as  these. 

So   numerous   are   these  institutions  for  the 
juvenile   that   only  a   few  typical   ones  can  be 
Type*   of  inetitu-  mentioned.     There  are  all  kinds 
tion8-  of     foundling    and     orphanage 

asylums  with  collateral  societies  for  the  aid  of 
children  and  prevention  of  cruelty  to  them.  The 
day  and  night  industry  schools  are  adapted  to 
teach  the  delinquent  manual  labor  if  not  the  rudi- 
ments of  a  trade.  His  attendance,  if  a  night 
scholar,  is  especially  reported  to  the  court.  There 
are  organizations,  like  the  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum,  which  combine  both  these  ideas,  they 
take  orphans  and  destitute  as  well  as  delinquent 
children,  putting  them  as  nearly  as  possible  under 


TEE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  193 

the  regime  of  a  strict  boarding  school  with  special 
curriculum.  The  village,  cottage,  and  farm  plans 
are  a  revolt  from  the  large  institution  idea ; 
such  are  the  George  Junior  Republics.  A  vil- 
lage is  organized  on  the  plan  of  a  republic.  The 
delinquents  are  called  citizens  ;  special  money  is 
used.  The  children  must  manage  to  live  on 
what  they  earn,  subsidized  a  little.  The  laws 
are  made  and  administered  by  the  citizens  under 
supervision.  The  idea  is  to  teach  the  juvenile 
by  personal  experience  what  a  nuisance  the 
offender  is,  and  to  inculcate  the  idea  that 
nothing  comes  without  honest  work. 

In  places  like  the  House  of  Refuge,  Rahway, 
an$  Jamesburg  the  boarding  and  military  school 
plan  is  elaborated.  Education  is  more  thor- 
oughly entered  into  and  discipline  is  more  strict. 
Following  the  plan  adopted  at  Paris,  industrial 
and  manual  training  are  emphasized  with 
the  idea  that  when  the  juvenile  has  served 
his  time  he  may  be  the  better  fitted  to  earn  a 
living.*  The  indeterminate  sentence  is  so  adapted 

*  "  Homes  for  Criminal  Children,"  F.  Fowke  in  "  Lend  a  Hand," 
Vol.  V.,  page  527. 


194  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

that  none  can  be  kept  beyond  majority,  but 
within  that  time  limit  all  are  there  until  good 
behavior  has  presupposed  cure. 

At  Elmira  the  educational  and  industrial  idea 
has  been  elaborated  until  there  are  almost  all 
branches  in  operation;  massage,  turkish  baths, 
"  setting  up  "  exercises,  drills,  military  and  musi- 
cal, wood  working,  manual  training,  printing, 
horticulture,  all  school  grades  from  kindergarten 
up.  So  thoroughly  are  these  convicts  educated 
that  the  complaint  has  been  made  that  the  State 
treats  her  delinquents  better  than  her  orderly 
children.  But  what  have  been  the  results  ? 

In  the  first  place  the  institution  idea  is  begin- 
ning to  break  down.  It  is  found  that  the  more 
The  institution  idea  elaborate  and  expensive  such  an 

is  beginning  to  break 

down.  organization  is,  the   more   dim- 

cult  it  is  to  get  proportionate  results.  Even  in 
an  orphan  or  foundling  asylum  this  is  true.  If 
the  inmates  are  little  babies  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  keep  them  alive.  Every  effort  has  been  made, 
but  none  succeed  when  carried  out  in  the  big 
plant. 

It  has  been  a  dream  of  such  idealists  as  Plato 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  195 

and  the  great  thinkers  of  Socialism  and  Com- 
munism that  the  State  should  bring  up  her  chil- 
dren in  common,  that  no  child  should  be  mothered 
individually.  Never  was  a  dream  more  fully 
denied  by  facts  than  this.  It  is  impossible  to 
bring  little  children  up  without  mothering. 
Apart  from  sentimental  reasons,  the  nuzzling  and 
petting  a  child  gets,  combined  with  the  gentle 
massage  of  the  caressing  mother  body,  are 
essentials  to  its  life.  It  is  so  the  baby  gets  its 
exercise  and  keeps  its  body  healthy.  If  it  does 
not  have  the  mother  breast  to  suckle,  its  teeth 
may  go  crooked,  inbent,  and  hence  quickly  be 
lost,  the  whole  face  and  head  be  undeveloped  or 
malformed,  and  even  fatal  mouth  cancers  arise. 
A  dozen  babies  in  one  room  seem  to  poison  each 
other.  In  several  institutions  the  mortality  rose 
to  the  nineties  out  of  a  hundred,  and  that  before 
the  expiration  of  the  three  months  necessary  to 
complete  arrangements  for  placing  them  out. 
It  is  impossible  to  feed  a  lot  of  tiny  motherless 
babies.  The  milk  of  goats  and  asses  has  been 
tried,  cow's  milk  in  every  preparation,  but  none 
are  very  successful  with  very  small  children. 


196  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

If  a  wet  nurse  is  hired  she  feeds  her  own  child, 
but  it  goes  ill  with  the  stranger.  Much  of  this 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  infants  are  not  well 
born  and  strong,  but  so  much  of  it  is  due  to  the 
herding  process  that  this  has  been  called  "  cold 
storage  for  infants." 

If  the  wards  are  older,  orphans,  or  members 
of  a  lighter  correctional  school  like  New  York 

The  orphanage  and    Juvenile        Asylum       when       Or- 
mild    school    institu- 
tionalize, ganized  on  a  congregate  system, 

another  peculiar  fact  evolves.  After  years  of 
stay  in  the  barrack-like  place,  playing  at  com- 
mand, working,  sleeping  at  a  signal,  assembling 
to  be  seen  by  patrons,  taught  to  say  polite 
things  at  a  command,  the  result  has  been  called 
"  institutionalization."  When  compared  with 
other  children  of  the  same  age  and  social  con- 
dition they  lack  the  ability  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves in  ordinary  life.  They  long  to  return  to 
the  seclusion  and  protection  of  the  barracks. 
They  find  it  hard  to  adapt  themselves  to  home 
life  ;  they  are  institutionalized.  So  well  known 
is  this  fact  that  every  big  plant  is  doing  its  best 
to  avoid  the  evil.  For  example,  the  New  York 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  197 

Juvenile  Asylum  has  recently  disposed  of  its 
New  York  property  and  moved  to  a  country 
place  on  the  Hudson,  reorganizing  on  the  village 
or  cottage  plan.  The  prime  factor  inspiring 
this  movement  was  institutionalization. 

In  case  the  offender  is  sent  to  a  sterner  place 
he  is  "  branded  "  as  a  criminal  and  has  a  serious 

The  sterner  organ-    handicap    to  live    down.       HomCS 

ization  brands.  are    ciose(j    to    him,   employers 

are  afraid  of  receiving  him ;  everywhere  society 
shuns  him  when  people  learn  the  name  of  the 
institution  in  which  he  has  been  incarcerated. 
Judge  Sweeney,  in  an  address  at  Newark  on 
this  theme,  gave  the  following  example :  A 
convict  was  brought  before  him  for  trial.  He 
recognized  the  culprit  as  one  before  sentenced 
to  a  stern  institution  and  spoke  of  the  regret  it 
caused  him  to  see  him  again  in  the  court.  The 
offender  raised  his  head  and  replied :  "  Judge,  I 
am  guilty  ;  I  did  it,  and  I  'm  sorry,  but  for  God's 
sake  send  me  this  time  to  some  place  where, 
when  I  have  served  my  time  and  paid  the  pen- 
alty, I  can  come  back  and  find  some  place  where 
they  won't  slam  the  door  in  my  face." 


198  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

The  sterner  institutions  have  long  recognized 
this  process  of  branding  and  are  doing  all 
they  can  to  avoid  it.  They  call  their  places 
"schools,"  "asylums,"  "farms,"  "republics," 
but  the  result  is  not  altered.  The  child  who 
enters  there,  however  changed  for  the  better,  is 
branded  and  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  him 
to  get  into  society  again  and  live  it  down. 

The  cause  of  these  evils  of  institutionalizing 

and  branding  is  universally  ascribed  to  the  un- 

The    attempt    to  natural   life   the   inmates    lead. 

make   the  institution 

natural.  What  is  good  for  a  grown  man 

at  liberty  when  a  certain  amount  of  restraint 
and  drill  have  been  endured  is  fatal  for  a  child 
when  he  is  under  it  day  and  night.  Drill  makes 
a  good  soldier,  but  constant  institution  drill 
makes  a  bad  citizen.  There  follows,  therefore, 
the  attempt  to  make  these  places  "natural." 
All  kinds  of  schemes  have  been  evolved ;  the 
big  plants  are  broken  into  numerous  smaller 
ones,  with  small  houses  and  matrons,  the  village, 
cottage,  and  "  home  "  plans  are  tried.  But  the 
evils  are  not  obviated ;  they  are  only  lessened  a 
little.  With  all  the  expensive  paraphernalia 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  199 

the  results  are  unsatisfactory.  It  is  impossible 
to  trace  in  detail  the  sequel  of  the  lives  so  tam- 
pered with.  Some  institutions  give  no  report. 
Those  who  do  so  put  the  percentage  of  reform 
as  high  as  possible.  Few  of  their  claims  in  this 
respect  will  bear  merciless  scrutiny,  for  none  of 
them  keep  such  accurate  records  that  a  released 
convict  would  be  discovered  by  them  if  he 
became  a  recidivist  years  after  in  some  distant 
place.  Yet  taking  these  reports  as  essentially 
accurate,  let  us  see  what  becomes  of  the  institu- 
tion child. 

Of  all  the  delinquents  coming  before  the 
Juvenile  Court  at  Denver,  Judge  Lindsey,  in- 
comparably the  most  successful  worker  with 
boys,  claims  96%  finally  reformed.  Of  all  treated 
by  him  5%  are  returned  to  court  and  10%  sent 
to  some  correctional  institution.  This  may  be 
taken  as  the  standard,  for  it  is  on  the  whole 
the  best  record  of  the  world.  But  it  should  be 
noted  that  only  10%  of  all  he  handles  are  sent  to 
institutions,  the  rest  are  treated  by  a  plan  to  be 
described  later.*  Since  only  those  not  reformed 

*  The  influence  of  his  personality  on  the  home. 


200  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

by  court  methods  are  sent  to  an  institution  it 
follows  that  the  4%  not  reclaimed  are  institution 
boys,  that  is,  40%  of  those  committed  to  the  care 
of  these  big  plants  by  the  Denver  court  are  not 
redeemed. 

Under  a  similar  Australian  scheme  with  the 
best  conditions,  and  handling  only  about  twenty- 
five  boys,  4%  failed. 

First  and  mild  offenders  are  usually  put  on 
probation;  we  should  therefore  expect  large 
success  with  them.  Newark  returns  show  60% 
cured  and  the  rest  "  needing  but  a  little  help."  * 
Chicago,  Indiana,  and  French  reports  are  exactly 
alike,  10%  of  their  probationers  fail,  and  this  is 
Judge  Lindsey's  figure.  But  taking  all  the 
children's  courts  in  the  United  States  50%  of 
their  wards  are  not  cured.  Some  are  sent  from 
the  court  to  a  mild  institution.  New  York 
Juvenile  Asylum  includes  destitute  as  well  as 
delinquent  children.  It  is  well  equipped  and 
managed,  but  20%  do  not  do  well  after  treatment. 
In  France  Raux  gives  a  ten-year  record  and  it  is 

*  For  all  these  data  see  reports  of  the  institutions  mentioned ; 
"Children's  Courts  in  the  United  States,"  by  Dr.  Barrows  of  the 
New  York  Prison  Association ;  "  Enfants  Coupable." 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  201 

almost  the  same  as  the  general  figures  for  the 
United  States  —  44%  fail. 

The  Massachusetts  plan  is  said  to  be  one  of 
the  best.  It  includes  all  grades  of  institutions, 
well  officered  and  organized ;  75%  of  all  brought 
before  the  courts  are  convicted;  one-fifth  of 
these  reconvicted;  one-ninth  sent  to  reforma- 
tories ;  one-tenth  are  in  court  again  within  a 
year,  and  a  few  later. 

The  George  Junior  Republic  takes  only  of- 
fenders with  no  deep  criminal  record  or  taint. 
It  refuses  mental  or  moral  defectives,  yet  40%  of 
its  citizens  fail. 

Rahway  Reformatory,  splendidly  equipped 
and  run,  takes  sterner  cases.  It  reports  77% 
permanently  cured  and  claims  this  to  be  the 
best  record  in  America,  if  not  in  the  world  for 
a  like  institution.  By  "  permanently  cured " 
they  really  mean  that  no  recidivism  is  discovered 
within  a  few  years  of  release,  —  no  life  record  is 
kept. 

English  reformatories  report  79%  of  boys 
and  76%  of  girls  do  well  after  treatment. 
Another  report  gives  25%  of  failure.  Of  the 


202  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

industrial  schools  16  J%  fail  and  this  is  precisely 
the  percentage  of  failure  reported  by  the  Min- 
nesota State  schools. 

Elmira  takes  first  felons  between  the  ages  of 
sixteen  and  thirty.  It  weeds  ]  out  the  most 
degenerate  and  most  deeply  tainted,  sending 
them  to  a  prison  for  insane  criminals.  Yet  it 
reports  with  all  its  superb  equipment  18%-28% 
of  failure,  and  even  this  report  is  based  only  on 
a  two-year  post  release  record.  What  becomes 
of  those  weeded  out  for  sterner  places  and  those 
who  fail?  We  have  no  accurate  statistics  of 
them.  They  drift  from  one  prison  to  another, 
alternating  their  life  with  criminal  debauch  and 
long  captivity.  We  can  get  a  hint  of  their  fate 
by  the  classifications  of  the  Italian  School,  for  it 
will  be  remembered  that  they  deal  largely  with 
this  type  of  offender.  Ferri  and  Lornbroso 
divide  their  offenders  thus :  (1)  criminals  by 
passion ;  (2)  occasional  criminals ;  (3)  criminals 
by  contracted  habit;  (4)  born  criminals;  (5) 
criminal  madmen.  The  first  and  second  classes 
are  those  who  not  being  deeply  involved  by  dis- 
position serve  their  terms  and  perhaps  return  to 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  203 

honest  lives.  Of  the  future  of  the  third  class  it 
is  reported  laconically  "  once  a  thief  always  a 
thief."  They  declare  that  not  a  single  member 
of  the  fourth  class  has  ever  been  reclaimed.  Of 
the  fifth  class  not  even  the  most  optimistic  have 
much  hope. 

Therefore,  to  summarize  the  effect  of  institu- 
tion life  we  may  say :  it  does  not  succeed  with 
summary  of  the  ef-  babies,    and   the   orphan   is  not 

fecte     of     institution 

nfe.  rendered   efficient  by  its  treat- 

ment. A  summary  of  results  of  purely  institu- 
tion life  made  from  the  preceding  statistics 
reveals  from  20%  to  50%  of  lighter  offenders  not 
cured.  And  this  percentage,  when  we  remember 
that  at  least  90%  and  probably  98%  of  these 
culprits  are  normal  and  therefore  curable,  is  not 
satisfactory.  All  those  whom  it  reclaims  are 
institutionalized  and  branded.  The  inmates  not 
cured  by  the  milder  schools  drift  to  the  sterner, 
which  in  turn  release  them  at  the  expiration  of 
sentence  to  continue  the  criminal  life.  For 
these  reasons  the  institution  idea  has  begun  to 
change  so  that  those  closely  in  touch  with  the 
big  organization  and  yet  not  so  involved  that 


204  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

they  are  unable  to  enunciate  its  limitations 
recognize  that  the  sphere  of  such  schemes  should 
be  limited  to  the  deeply  criminal  and  anomalous 
children. 

The  reason  why  the  institution  idea  has  per- 

sisted so  long  is  that  there  is  a  class  of  offenders 

The  sphere  of  the  who  are  so  bad  that  there  seems 

institution  is  with  the  ,,  ,,       ,       •    ,       ,.  .., 

deeply  criminal,  the  no  o™ieT  method  of  dealing  with 


them-     The   onlJ  feasible   Pi** 
uraiiy  criminal.          seemed  to  be  isolation  in  large 

buildings  with  others  of  their  kind.  But  it  has 
been  shown  that  such,  including  the  insane  and 
morbid,  are  probably  not  more  than  5%  of  first 
court  offenders.  With  these,  then,  we  will  deal 
briefly.  It  has  been  shown  that  some  are  not 
natural  criminals  but  only  offenders  by  confirmed 
habit.  These  may  well  be  gathered  in  small 
institutions  and  special  efforts  made  to  redeem 
them,  for  they  are  normal.  The  insane  delin- 
quent may  also  be  put  in  similar  places  under 
the  alienists'  treatment.  No  plan  universally 
applicable  can  be  given  ;  it  is  with  the  abnormal 
more  true  than  the  normal  —  each  person  consti- 
tutes a  separate  problem. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  205 

For  those  who  are  so  deeply  involved  that  they 
may  be  called  "  natural  "  criminals  and  for  those 
who  are  by  nature  delinquents,  the  results  of  the 
study  of  stigmata  suggests  some  hope.  If  we 
grant  that  the  claims  of  the  Italian  School  are 
true  when  limited  to  the  natural  criminal  and 
when  purged  of  any  reference  to  discovery  of 
type  of  crimes,  we  may  then  use  these  stigmata 
as  a  means  of  separating  those  persons  who,  while 
not  morbid  or  insane,  are  yet  tainted  with  crime, 
from  those  who  are  criminal  by  nature. 

Those  who  have  not  the  stigmata  and  are  not 
morbid  or  insane  may  be  presumed  offenders  by 
habit,  and  special  efforts  be  made  by  isolation  and 
treatment  in  small  institutions  to  reclaim  them. 

Those  deeply  criminal  and  also  possessing 
stigmata  may  be  considered  naturally  vicious, 
and  after  separating  these  in  some  small  plant 
we  may  test  the  claim  of  the  Italian  School  that 
these  anomalies  have  a  causative  effect ;  at  least 
we  may  prove  whether  these  peculiarities  are  in 
themselves  a  sufficient  cause  of  criminality. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  these  stigmata  are 
for  the  most  part  abnormally  shaped  head  bones  ; 


206  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

now  it  is  known  that  deficiency  in  this  respect 
A  plan  to  success,  can   affect   breathing,   vocaliza- 

fully  treat  the  natural 

offender.  tion,   and    enunciation,  so   that 

through  these  clear  thinking  is  made  difficult. 
Also  deficient  head  bones  can  so  affect  the  torsal 
skeleton  that  lungs,  chest,  shoulder,  and  spine 
may  be  mal-developed  and  thus  the  nerves  and 
mind  weakened.  Defective  dentition  can  under- 
mine digestion  and  profoundly  affect  general 
health.  It  is  well  known  that  accident  or  mal- 
development  in  head  bones  can  cause  crime,  for 
removal  of  such  factors  has  brought  reformation 
in  isolated  cases.*  But  the  crucial  point,  i.e., 
that  the  natural  offender  is  caused  by  defective 
head  bones,  so  that  if  these  were  righted  normal 
life  would  always  result,  is  not  known.  It  may 
well  be  that  the  head  is  deformed  by  reason  of 
some  subtle  state  of  nerves  or  blood  and  that 
what  have  been  named  stigmata  are  only  exter- 
nal manifestations  of  an  internal  and  as  yet  un- 
known cause.  It  may  be  that  these  external 
anomalies  as  well  as  the  psychic  peculiarities  are 

*  See  the  case  of  the  Harvard  skull,  also  Maudsley,  "  Responsi- 
bility in  Mental  Diseases,"  etc. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  207 

so  deeply  seated  as  to  be  involved  in  the  human 
ovum  and  sperm. 

There  is,  however,  a  science  which  throws 
light  on  the  question.  About  twenty-five  years 
ago  the  assistant  of  an  American  physician  resid- 
ing in  Paris  began  to  study  the  jaw  with  respect 
to  teeth.  He  found  good  occlusion  very  rare. 
A  careful  study  of  the  effects  of  teeth  on  devel- 
opment of  the  head  was  then  begun.  Models 
were  made  of  each  patient  and  these  repeated  at 
intervals  so  that  every  effect  of  treatment  could 
be  watched.  Several  hundred  series  of  models 
were  thus  studied  .and  the  results,  though  never 
before  recognized  as  bearing  on  the  treatment  of 
the  offender,  are  worthy  of  attention. 

As  they  bear  on  our  theme  some  of  these  dis- 
coveries are  mentioned: 

Extraction  of  permanent  teeth  causes :  (1) 
diminution  of  the  size  of  the  dental  arches; 
(2)  diminution  of  the  size  of  the  arch  of  the 
palate ;  (3)  prevention  of  mastication ;  (4)  dimi- 
nution of  the  room  needed  for  the  tongue ;  (5) 
injury  to  vocalization,  and  therefore  of  clear 
thinking ;  (6)  noticeable  twisting  of  the  face ; 


208  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

(7)  abnormal  approximation  of  the  nose  and 
chin ;  and  through  these,  mal-development  of  the 
teeth  causes  :  (1)  prognathous  jaws ;  (2)  under- 
development  of  one  side  of  the  face ;  (3)  deflec- 
tion of  the  nose  ;  (4)  crooked  and  "  wolf  "  teeth ; 
(5)  loss  of  dignity  of  expression ;  (6)  ugly  face, 
and  (7)  mouth  breathing  with  its  serious  results 
on  vitality.* 

Dr.  Bogue  declares  that  the  displacement  of 
even  one  permanent  molar  further  forward  on 
the  arch  than  it  should  be  will  cramp  to  a 
considerable  extent  all  the  contiguous  bones,  so 
that  the  face  never  gets  its  development.  The 
vault  of  the  palate  is  deformed ;  there  is  no  room 
for  the  free  use  of  the  tongue  or  for  respiration ; 
the  nasal  septum  is  deflected.  He  has  examined 
hundreds  of  aboriginal  skulls  and  finds  that 
from  the  same  causes  of  uncorrected  dentition 
the  size  and  shape  of  the  skull  are  profoundly 
affected. 

*  These  results  are  given  in  a  series  of  papers  before  American 
and  foreign  medical  associations  on  the  influence  of  arranging  teeth 
in  their  normal  position,  etc.,  by  E.  A.  Bogue,  M.D.,  D.D.S.,  for- 
mer lecturer  on  pathology  and  therapeutics  at  Harvard,  member 
of  the  Odontological  Societies  of  Great  Britain,  New  York,  and 
France,  etc. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  209 

It  will  be  noticed  that  these  results  bear 
directly  on  the  realm  of  stigmata,  for  they  show 
the  origin  of  some  abnormal  palates,  sinister 
faces,  deflected  noses,  prognathous  jaws,  and 
general  cranial  asymmetry,  all  of  which  are 
stigmata  recognized  as  typical  of  the  natural 
criminal  and  degenerate. 

But  the  further  question  is  of  most  in- 
terest; having  discovered  these  causes,  can 
the  anomalies  be  righted?  And  what  is  the 
result  on  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  the 
patient  ? 

This  physician  has  for  years  been  working 
along  the  line  of  correction  and  he  finds  it  com- 
paratively easy  to  right  these  peculiarities  if  the 
child  be  given  to  him  before  the  age  of  sixteen. 
Every  one  of  the  above-mentioned  stigmata  the 
writer  has  watched  him  correct.  Abnormal 
palates  have  been  righted ;  deflected  noses  made 
straight ;  jaws  prognathous  to  half  an  inch  have 
been  made  normal.  Indeed,  the  whole  cranial 
form  has  been  so  changed  that  strikingly  abnor- 
mal heads  grow  not  merely  regular,  but  almost 
beautiful;  and  there  is  often  a  change  for  the 


210  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

better  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  the 
child  thus  treated.*  Before  our  interviews  Dr. 
Bogue  had  not  thought  of  the  application  of  this 
science  to  criminal  physiology,  but  he  is  now 
convinced,  as  is  the  writer,  that  if  the  malforma- 
tions described  by  the  Italian  School  cause  the 
offences  of  the  natural  criminals,  they  can  be 
removed  in  youth,  and  thus  that  form  of  offender 
usually  recognized  as  most  hopeless  can  be 
eliminated. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Cronin  in  the  New  York 
Public  Schools  should  be  noted.  Careful  ex- 
aminations were  made,  adenoid  and  post-nasal 
growths  were  removed  from  children  declared 
incorrigible.  The  results  are  in  many  cases 
simply  amazing.  The  writer  has  seen  juveniles 
he  would  have  suspected  of  natural  backward- 
ness or  criminality  —  children  repulsive  almost 
in  their  mal-development  and  certainly  ugly  in 
their  disposition;  he  has  seen  such  a  change 
wrought  in  six  months  as  a  result  of  the  opera- 
tion that  the  children  were  scarcely  recognizable. 
The  faces  were  illuminated  with  intelligence, 

*  See  appendix,  Plates  XII.,  XIII. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  211 

the  body  erect  with  health,  and  mind  and  morals 
wonderfully  improved. 

It  is  clear  that  all  this  plan  can  not  be  carried 
out  with  best  results  in  the  scattered  homes  of 
the  delinquents.  Part  of  it  is  expensive  and 
needs  specialists,  but  because  the  number  requir- 
ing such  treatment  is  relatively  small  we  may  turn 
them  over  to  the  institution,  for  the  two  great 
evils,  branding  and  institutionalization,  will  not 
have  such  disastrous  effects  on  these,  and  it  is 
their  only  hope.  We  may  therefore  say  that 
the  special  field  of  the  institution  is  reforma- 
tion; particularly  reformation  of  the  abnormal 
child. 

There  will  surely  be  some  who  can  not  be  re- 
formed by  any  method  yet  devised.     There  are 
Extirpation    as    a  the  adult  offenders    who,  being 

method  of  prevention.    left  Qften    &t  large?  form  a  delhl- 

quency-breeding  centre  not  to  be  ignored.  For 
those  who  are  not  amenable  to  reformation  there 
is  only  one  realm  left,  and  that  is  extirpation. 
This  should  not  be  considered  in  any  other  light 
than  as  a  method  of  prevention,  for  whether  we 
speak  of  formation,  reformation  or  elimination, 


212  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

they  are   all    merely   departments    of    the   one 
supreme  aim,  —  prevention. 

At  the  present  time  we  have  two  methods  of 
getting  rid  of  the  worst  criminals,  life  imprison- 
ment and  death,  neither  of  which  is  satisfac- 
tory. Entirely  apart  from  any  feeling  as  to 
whether  these  are  brutal,  considering  them  as 
means  of  eliminating  a  confirmed  criminal,  they 
fail  in  their  object.  Even  if  we  had  a  compara- 
tively painless  method  like  the  lethal  bath,  the 
same  objections  hold, —  a  jury  will  not  inflict 
capital  punishment  except  under  the  most 
extraordinary  pressure.  In  case  an  offender  is 
sentenced  for  life  the  crime  is  forgotten  in  a 
short  time ;  his  friends  work  through  politics 
and  in  a  little  while  the  criminal  is  liberated  or 
escapes.  It  is  said  that  the  sanction  of  murder 
in  the  United  States  is  not  more  than  six  years' 
imprisonment  on  the  average.  Besides  this  the 
extreme  penalty  is  not  inflicted  except  for 
murder.  The  offender  may  so  shock  a  sensitive 
woman  that  she  is  an  invalid  for  life ;  he  may 
be  a  pervert  who  leaves  a  trail  of  ruin,  but  he 
can  not  be  kept  beyond  the  expiration  of  his 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  213 

term.  Now  if  the  hopeless  criminal  were  ab- 
solutely sterilized  and  then  isolated,  preferably 
on  a  remote  island  with  military  or  naval  station 
as  guard,  were  he  given  also  the  necessities  for 
making  a  living  there,  he  could  associate  with 
his  kind,  even  marry,  and  the  problem  would  be 
nearer  solution.  The  man  could  live  his  life, 
but  could  leave  no  progeny  of  defectives  as  did 
old  Juke  and  Rodney. 

In  review  of  these  latter  paragraphs  we  may 
say  that  although  the  institution  is  not  a  success 
when  applied  to  the  normal  offender,  there  is 
yet  an  important  field  which  it  alone  can  cover ; 
it  may  deal  with  the  abnormal  criminal.  For 
with  him  the  evils  of  institutionalism  and 
branding  become  comparatively  insignificant 
and  he  can  not  be  otherwise  treated.  The 
deeply  involved  can  be  handled  only  by  an 
organization  of  this  type,  and  the  same  is  true 
of  morbid  and  insane  delinquents.  The  treat- 
ment of  the  natural  criminal  calls  for  the  same 
kind  of  scheme  ;  and  finally  it  may  do  the  work 
of  an  organization  which  officially  designates 
those  who  have  proved  themselves  beyond  any 


214  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

hope  of  recovery  by  any  known  method,  yet 
without  depriving  them  of  life  or  cruelly 
restricting  liberty  it  may  by  sterilization  and 
isolation  render  them  harmless  to  society  and 
let  them  live  their  lives  as  freely  as  their  unfor- 
tunate condition  will  warrant. 

Reformation  and  extirpation,  two  departments 

of  prevention,  have  been  discussed ;  what  of  pre- 

Generai  civic  better,  vention  ?     Outside  of  the  efforts 

meat  as  a  method  of 

prevention.  of  the  State  a  great  civic  move- 

ment for  prevention  in  the  shape  of  civic  better- 
ment has  been  going  on.  Associations  like  the 
Charity  Organization  Society  and  the  Society  for 
the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  have 
arisen.  These,  by  handling  the  borderlander 
and  his  children  in  a  tactful  way,  do  a  large 
work  for  the  prevention  of  delinquency,  espe- 
cially by  educating  the  public  in  methods  of 
philanthropy.  By  applying  their  standard  of 
worthiness  in  a  rigorous  way  the  borderlander  is 
often  saved.  Thus  from  the  standpoint  of  pre- 
vention it  makes  no  difference  how  a  family 
comes  on  the  border  line.  If  the  individual  or 
the  family  will  cooperate  with  the  helper  for 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  215 

the  applicants'  benefit  they  are  worthy,  but  if 
there  is  the  intent  to  lie  down,  no  matter  how 
this  state  is  reached,  they  are  not  worthy. 

Of  the  lesser  plans  for  civic  betterment  only 
a  few  can  be  mentioned.    Myriads  of  playgrounds, 

Playgrounds,  ciubs,  clubs>    Parks>    settlements,   and 
parks,     settlements,  fa&  like   have  risen.     The  root 

etc.,    as      preventive 

schemes.  i^.ea  of  which  as  they  bear  upon 

our  theme  is  as  follows :  The  home  of  the 
offender  is  weak,  it  is  in  a  crowded  locality  and 
it  is  under  bad  supervision.  Parks,  playgrounds, 
arid  the  like  are  meant  to  furnish  a  wholesome 
environment  where  the  child  of  the  city  can  play 
freely  under  the  influence,  if  possible,  of  strong 
personality.  Clubs,  settlements,  adapted  schools, 
etc.,  are  meant  not  only  to  furnish  social  advan- 
tages, education,  and  the  like,  but  also  to  put 
their  members  under  the  influence  of  a  strong 
leader  who  will  be  their  friend,  and  who  will 
extend  to  the  home  of  the  weaker  members  an 
influence  which  will  be  preventive  of  delinquency 
by  its  uplifting  power. 

Even  the  Puritanic  idea  of  curfew  has  been 
adopted.     Curfew  laws  have   been  successfully 


216  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

administered  in  two  hundred  smaller  cities  or 
curfew  as  preven-  ^^^-     All  unescorted  children 
tive-  are     required     to    be    off     the 

street  at  8  or  9  P.M.  Lincoln,  Neb.,  had  75% 
less  arrests  in  the  two  weeks  after  its  trial.  In 
North  Platte  no  children  have  been  sent  to  re- 
form school  for  two  years  since  curfew  began. 
The  Prisoners'  Aid  of  Canada  also  recommends 
it.* 

The  preventive  effect  of  civic  cleanliness  has 
been  so  clearly  recognized  that  in  many  cities  of 
civic  cleanliness  as  America  corps  of  boys  have  been 
preventive.  organized  under  the  supervision 

of  the  street  cleaning  department  for  the  purpose 
of  rendering  the  streets  in  the  slum  portions 
cleaner,  f  Public  baths  and  baths  in  connection 
with  the  schools  in  the  poorer  localities  have 
produced  good  results. 

In  another  line  much  preventive  work  has 
been  done  by  the  Social  Secretary  and  the  Con- 

•"The  Juvenile  Offender,"  Cady;  "The  Child  Problem," 
Prisoner's  Aid  of  Canada,  pamphlet. 

f  Report  of  D.  Willard,  D.S.C.,  Supervisor ;  "  Street  Cleaning," 
by  J.  E.  Waring. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  217 

sumer's  League.    One  of  their  objects  is  to  guard 
The   social  Secre-  the  girls  and  children  in  large 

tary  and  Consumer's  . 

League.  stores  and  factories  and  through 

a  kindly  influence  to  come  to  the  rescue  cf  the 
weakened  home.  They  have  kept  down  the 
evils  of  child  labor  and  unwholesome  factory 
conditions. 

But  the  great  result  of  all  these  civic  better- 
ment plans  has  been  to  mark  out  more  clearly 
the  relative  importance  of  branches  of  treatment. 
Together  with  the  experience  derived  from  the 
institution  they  have  demonstrated  that  the 
great  field  of  treatment  is  prevention.  Forma- 
tion should  take  place  in  the  home,  and  the 
home  can  be  best  fortified  by  general  civic  bet- 
terment, which  will  render  it  easier  to  avoid 
delinquency.  After  the  fact  of  delinquency  the 
results  of  the  institution  life  have  shown  that 
normal  offenders  should  not  be  submitted  to 
incarceration  except  as  an  utterly  last  resort. 
Reformation  of  the  deeply  involved  and  ab- 
normal and  extirpation  of  the  hopelessly  tainted 
is  the  field  of  the  institution. 

We  have  seen  that  the  function  of  the  institu- 


218  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

tion  is  to  treat  the  abnormal  offender.     The  evils 
The  rise  of    the  °^    institutionalization    and    of 
foaterhome.  branding,  together  with  the  un- 

satisfactory record  of  reform,  have  led  to  a  dis- 
trust of  the  institution  when  it  is  used  to  harbor 
the  normal  child ;  the  great  lack  when  dealing 
with  the  ordinary  offender  is  its  abnormal  life. 
Every  effort  has  been  made  to  render  this  life 
natural,  and  these  efforts  have  failed  everywhere. 
The  life  of  the  inmates  is  not  normal,  and  no 
ingenuity  can  make  it  so.  Therefore,  the  attempt 
has  been  given  up  by  many  leaders  and  they 
are  trying  to  take  advantage  of  a  natural  institu- 
tion already  existing,  i.e.,  the  home.  The  effort 
of  this  plan  is  to  give  the  normal  delinquent  the 
one  thing  he  usually  lacks,  a  home  where  he 
will  receive  ordinary  care  and  where  his  life 
may  develop  under  wholesome  environment. 

This  plan  has  as  yet  evolved  only  to  the  stage 
of  a  department  of  the  most  advanced  institu- 
tions. Homes  are  found  for  a  certain  number 
of  the  wards.  The  child  is  apprenticed  or 
adopted.  More  or  less  vigorous  visitation  and 
supervision  are  exercised,  and  very  good  results 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  219 

have  been  reported  wherever  the  plan  has  been 
intelligently  carried  out. 

There  are  various  methods  and  grades  of  plac- 
ing out.  Sometimes  the  ward's  board  is  paid 
various  piacing-out  in  part  or  in  f ull ;  or  as  by  the 
methods.  German  Rauhe  Haus  plan  one 

family  or  person  becomes  responsible  for  one 
delinquent  child ;  sometimes  he  is  apprenticed 
until  majority,  or  indentured  for  a  period ; 
sometimes  the  child  is  legally  adopted.  Pure 
placing  out  in  all  cases  is  rarely  advocated, 
because  there  are  children  so  abnormal  or  vicious 
that  special  preparatory  treatment  is  needed  to 
prevent  them  from  infecting  the  foster  home ; 
samples  of  the  various  methods  may  be  given. 

In  Victoria,  Australia,  a  boy  is  sentenced  to 
Ballarat  Reformatory  for  one  year.  He  can  re- 

Australian       math-    duCG  thls  tO  nllie  months  by  good 

behavior.  After  this  prelimi- 
nary discipline  he  is  placed  in  a  foster  home,  or 
allowed  to  enter  the  army  or  navy.  He  is  al- 
ways under  careful  supervision.*  This  system 

*  "  Homes  for  Criminal  Children,"  "  Lend  a  Hand,"  Vol.  V.,  part 
2,  page  527. 


220  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

is  adopted  with  variations  in  most  Australian 
colonies,  in  S.  Australia,  and  in  New  Zealand. 
All  over  Australia  the  government  has  decided 
that  the  best  method  is  to  get  foster  homes  and 
keep  the  delinquent  there  until  at  least  working 
age.  The  history  of  this  plan  is  worth  knowing. 
It  began  about  twenty-one  years  ago  in  S.  Aus- 
tralia through  the  influence  of  Miss  Emily 
Clark,  a  niece  of  Sir  Rowland  Hill.*  An  indus- 
trial school  was  to  be  built,  and  Miss  Clark 
opposed  it.  The  school  was  completed  and  soon 
overcrowded.  The  results  were  poor.  Miss 
Clark  took  the  overflow  and  placed  them  out.  So 
numerous  were  the  applications  for  wards  that  the 
school  was  soon  emptied  ;  the  results  were  good. 
Now  there  is  only  a  central  place  of  temporary 
detention,  and  not  a  voice  is  raised  against  the 
new  plan. 

In  Scotland  and  in  England  (to  some  extent 
also    in    Ireland)    children    are 

British  methods. 

"  boarded  out,    —  their  board  is 
paid   in   some   family.     There    is  a  central  de- 

*  "  Children  of  the  State  in  Australia,"  Miss  C.  H.  Spence,  Chil- 
dren's Advocate,  Nov.  9,  1893. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  221 

tention  and  distributing  office  ;  with  keen  super- 
vision the  plan  succeeds  well.* 

The  Rauhe  Haus  illustrates  a  German  plan ; 
local   families  are  obtained   to  become   sponsor 

German  and  Ameri-    f  °r  at  leaSt  OIie  chlld'       In  Bei>lin 

can  plans.  there  is  placing  out  with  a  cen- 

tral plant  for  inspection  and  quarantine. 
Canada  has  subsidized  homes.  In  Minnesota  the 
State  Public  School  is  designed  merely  as  a  clear- 
ing house  and  location  for  preliminary  treatment 
before  placing  out.  The  New  York  Juvenile 
Asylum  has  a  placing-out  department.!  Michi- 
gan has  a  county  agent  who  must  visit  and  fully 
report  all  prospective  foster  homes.  All  chil- 
dren must  first  be  sent  to  the  State  School. 
They  are  then  placed  out  as  far  as  possible 
from  their  former  surroundings.  Delinquent 
parents  must  report  to  the  county  agent  and  he 
is  empowered  to  visit  and  report  on  all  children 
placed  out  by  private  or  county  institutions. 

*"  Children  of  the  State,"  Howard  Ass'n,  London,  1894. 

f'The  Supervision  of  Pauper  and  Friendless  Children,"  pamph- 
let; "  Bulletin  of  Iowa  Institutions,"  April,  1902;  "The  Child 
Problem,"  by  Prisoner's  Aid  Soc.  of  Canada;  "The  Michigan 
County  Agent,"  Charities,  1902,  Vol.  VIII.,  page  433, 


222  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

The  system  has  worked  so  well  that  it  has  been 
adopted  by  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  Rhode 
Island.  In  Ohio  delinquents  are  kept  in 
"  county  orphanages  "  until  they  are  located  in 
foster  homes.  Pennsylvania  places  the  child 
out  directly  from  the  street,  without  preliminary 
training.  It  is  reported  as  working  well  with 
the  jounger  children  but  not  with  the  older  and 
deeply  tainted. 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  practically 

everywhere,  especially  in  Australia,  Oceanica, 

There  is  demand  for  and  the  United  States  there  is 

wards.      Advantages. 

Defects.  great  demand  for  foster  children. 

Good  results  are  everywhere  reported.  Some 
advantages  claimed  are  as  follows  : 

It  costs  about  half  as  much  as  the  institution 
plan  and  gives  better  results. 

Overcrowding  is  avoided. 

Those  peculiar  phenomena  of  institutions 
known  as  "  immoral  explosions "  are  pre- 
vented. 

Epidemics  and  immoral  infection  are  avoided. 

The  children  can  not  be  institutionalized. 

The  ways  of  common  living  are  taught. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  223 

The  stigma  of  reformative  institutions  on 
children  is  obviated. 

The  nearest  approximation  to  a  real  home  is 
given  the  child. 

Yet  there  are  weaknesses.*  Abuses  on  girls 
boarded  out  in  remote  districts  of  Canada  and 
Nova  Scotia  are  reported.  A  difficulty  in  find- 
ing proper  school  facilities  in  rural  districts  is 
experienced.  City  children  put  in  lonesome 
country  places  are  not  happy.  Some  foster 
parents  overwork  the  wards,  or  use  them  to 
make  money,  and  at  the  close  of  the  period 
agreed  upon  they  leave  the  child  helpless  and 
deserted. 

Experience  has  taught  that  several  things  are 
essential  to  success  in  this  plan.  There  must  be 
no  following  of  unbreakable  rules ;  a  wise  per- 
sonality must  direct.  The  agent  must  have  full 
power  to  transfer  the  ward  when  he  thinks  best. 
It  often  happens  that  a  child  is  unfavorably 
reported  in  four  or  five  families  in  succession, 

*"  Juvenile  Offenders,"  a  pamphlet  issued  by  Howard  Ass'n; 
"Children  of  the  State;."  "Second  Mass.  State  Conference,"  page 
161. 


224  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

yet  the  next  family  likes  him  very  well.  Central 
places  of  reception,  quarantine,  and  preliminary 
preparation  for  weeding  out  bad,  vicious  or 
morbid  children  are  needed.  Only  constant  and 
vigilant  supervision  by  volunteers  as  well  as  by 
paid  officials  will  guarantee  success. 

All  correspondence  between  parents  and  wards 
must  be  carefully  supervised  and  forbidden  if 
necessary,  because  in  several  countries  it  is 
found  that  when  the  ward  is  able  to  work  the 
parents  want  him  back,  and  instigate  all  kinds 
of  trouble.  With  these  guards  the  foster  home 
has  succeeded  better  than  any  other  place.  Its 
best  results  equal  Judge  Lindsey's  and  both  lead 
the  world.  Its  average  results  exceed  the  average 
of  50%  cure  claimed  by  the  children's  courts  of 
the  United  States,  and  these  far  exceed  the  best 
and  average  records  of  institutional  reformation. 
So  true  is  this  that  the  organizations  with  data 
covering  the  whole  field  and  with  no  institution 
to  uphold,  urge  that  children  be  taken  from  the 
big  plants  and  placed  in  families  as  soon  as 
possible. 

The  legal  development  has  taken   the  same 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  225 

trend.    Before  the  differentiation  of  delinquency 

The  legal  develop,  from    crime,    the    offender   was 

r/towa™  tha'ap!  treated  impersonally,  whether  an 

plication  of  personal,  ^normal  child,  a  poor  child,  or 

ity  in  the  atmosphere 

of  the  home.  a  mischievous  one  committed 

theft  it  was  all  the  same  as  far  as  the  court  was 
concerned.  The  law  was  not  administered  for 
offenders,  but  for  offences.  All  the  three  classes 
mentioned  received  the  same  "penalty,"  for 
that  is  the  only  fit  word ;  they  did  not  receive 
treatment. 

But  the  law  discovered  that  it  must  distin- 
guish, it  must  treat  and  not  merely  punish. 

The  honest  application  of  the  letter  of  the 
law  was  seen  to  be  not  only  unjust,  but  disas- 
trous, defeating  its  very  purpose,  especially 
when  applied  to  juveniles  in  this  impersonal 
sense.  The  children  did  not  understand  the 
difference  between  naughtiness  and  illegality, 
nor  did  the  enforcement  of  the  law  teach  them. 
They  came  as  children,  homeless,  guardianless, 
bad,  and  at  last  the  law  recognized  that  it  must 
receive  them  in  the  same  spirit;  it  must  bridge 
the  chasm  between  the  judge  and  state  father ; 


226  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

these  two  functions  are  united  in  the  latest  and 
best  legal  method  devised  for  handling  the 
delinquent,  —  the  children's  court. 

The  greatest  product  of  legal  evolution  during 

the  past  decade   has  been   the   juvenile  court. 

By  this  is  not  meant  merely  a 

The  juvenile  conn. 

separate  place  for  trial,  but  the 
court  and  its  organization  of  associated  child- 
saving  methods.  Most  of  all  is  meant  the  evo- 
lution of  the  function  of  the  judge  to  combine 
the  office  of  court  president  and  regulator  with 
that  of  state  father  to  its  wards.  The  purpose 
of  the  child's  court  is  to  give  separate,  personal, 
and  adapted  treatment  to  each  offender,  with  a 
view  to  preventing  delinquency  from  hardening 
into  criminal  life. 

Judge  Lindsey  considers  the  essentials  of  his 
court  to  be:  "The  acts  enabling  him  to  deal 
freely  with  the  delinquent  and  dependent  chil- 
dren ;  and  to  hold  parents  or  adult  agents  re- 
sponsible for  the  offences  of  their  wards;  the 
acts  holding  fathers  accountable  for  the  support, 
care,  and  maintenance  of  their  offspring,  the 
statutes  providing  for  the  punishment  of  cruelty 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  227 

to  children,  that  cooperation  between  school  and 
court  officials  by  which  all  these  laws  are  en- 
forced in  one  court  having  power  to  deal  with 
every  aspect  of  the  situation  before  one  judge ; 
with  a  set  of  paid  officials  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  law;  the  administrative  work  with  delin- 
quents as  well  as  for  them ;  and  the  cooperation 
of  these  children  with  the  court."  * 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  a  court  in  which 
only  children  are  tried  is  not  a  children's  court ; 
this  is  only  one  of  nine  or  ten  essentials.  It  is 
often  said  that  some  of  the  best  States  have  no 
juvenile  court,  Massachusetts  for  example,  but 
it  will  be  observed  that  they  have  all  the 
essentials  except  a  separate  building.  The 
kernel  of  the  court  is  not  the  division  as  to 
place,  it  is  the  change  of  judicial  function  and 
that  change  wrought  out  in  all  the  atmosphere 
and  action  of  the  court.  The  judge  does  more 
than  rule  the  proceedings,  he  sympathizes,  ex- 
plains, guides,  inspires.  Most  of  Judge  Lind- 
sey's  work  is  done  apart  from  the  court  and  its 

* "  The  Boy  and  the  Court,"  Charities,  Jan.  7,  '05,  page  350 ; 
"  Children's  Courts  in  the  United  States,"  S.  Barrows. 


228  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

officials.  He  goes  to  the  home,  the  gang,  the 
boy,  whenever  he  can,  talks  to  and  guides  the 
child  as  a  father.  When  in  court  his  actions 
are  not  otherwise,  except  that  he  administers  the 
law  in  the  same  spirit  and  dominates  all  civic 
and  legal  institutions  with  the  fatherly  idea, — 
always  legal, —  and  always  judicial.  He  is  state 
father  to  the  children  and  his  record  of  redemp- 
tion is  the  best  in  the  world. 

This  organization  has  done  more  than  cure 
96%  of  its  offenders.  It  has  taught  old  princi- 
ples more  clearly.  It  has  proved  the  practica- 
bility of  certain  theories  hitherto  called  ideals 
merely.  For  example,  the  French  congress  for 
juveniles  stated  an  ideal,  a  recommendation  as 
follows :  "  Le  congres  estime,  qu'il  est  d'interet 
social  que  des  mesures  legislatives  soient 
prises  pour  parer  aux  consequences  deplora- 
bles  d'une  education  immorale  donnee  par  les 
parents  a  leurs  enfants  mineurs.  II  pense 
qu'un  des  moyens  a  recommander  est  de  per- 
mettre  aux  tribunaux  d'enlever  aux  parents 
pour  un  temps  determine  tout  ou  une  partie 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  229 

des  droits  derivant  de  la  puissance  paternelle," 
etc.* 

That  is,  the  State  should  assume  the  parents' 
function  when  this  is  not  done  by  the  naturally 
appointed  persons. 

Judge  Lindsey's  court  has  assumed  this  and 
proved  the  practicability  of  so  doing. 

Furthermore,  Judge  Wilkin  and  Pennsyl- 
vania's leaders  in  juvenile  work  declared  the  need 
of  holding  parents  responsible  for  the  acts  of  their 
children.  The  children's  court  under  Judge 
Lindsey  has  proved  the  wisdom  of  this  also. 
For  he  has  held  not  only  parents  and  guardians 
accountable  for  the  offences  of  children,  but 
also  other  adult  agents,  as  saloon  keepers  who 
sell  to  minors,  people  who  harbor  gangs,  and  all 
who  indirectly  encourage  the  boy  in  his  badness. 

Not  only  so,  but  the  juvenile  court  idea  under 
this  judge  has  shown  why  the  institution  plan, 
whether  congregate,  barrack,  village  or  farm 
can  not  succeed ;  namely,  because  they  do  not 
and  can  not  admit  of  the  individual,  varied, 
adapted,  and  constant  supervision  of  a  strong 

*  Theophile  Roussel,  "  Rapport." 


230  THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

and  fatherly  personality  expressed  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  a  home,  which  all  experience  has  shown 
to  be  the  one  thing  absolutely  necessary  if  the 
normal  delinquent  be  reclaimed.  The  State 
must  through  such  an  instrument  do  the  work 
which  the  parent  has  not  done,  for  whatever 
reason. 

In  reviewing  the  data  presented  in  this  chapter 
we  find  that  the  history  of  modern  treatment  of 

Summary  and   con-    J^VCnile      offenCCS      begins      With 

ciuaion.  the  realization  that  the  law  must 

deal  especially  and  in  a  personal  way  with 
the  child  offender.  Practical  work  has  shown 
that  the  aim  of  this  treatment  should  not 
be  punitive  but  educative,  formative,  reform- 
ative, and  extirpative,  yet  all  from  the  stand- 
point of  prevention.  The  development  of 
the  institution  has  shown  that  education 
and  reform  are  spoiled  by  institutionalization  and 
branding,  so  that  only  the  abnormal  or  deeply 
involved  delinquent  should  be  handled  by 
it.  Attempts  to  render  the  institution  free 
from  its  evil  effects  on  the  normal  child  took  the 
trend  of  making  this  organization  natural.  This 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR.  231 

was  found  to  be  practically  impossible.  Civic 
movements  demonstrated  that  general  civic  better- 
ment, closer  alliance  between  the  home  and  the 
school,  performed  the  work  of  prevention  better 
than  the  institution  could.  And  all  schemes 
showed  that  the  most  successful  methods  had 
been  those  where  strong  personality  was  exerted 
directly  on  the  offender  in  the  home  and  not  in 
the  institution.  The  search  for  a  natural  insti- 
tution in  which  to  deal  with  the  offenders  re- 
vealed the  foster  home,  which  was  tried  with 
the  best  success  yet  attained.  The  legal  devel- 
opment took  the  form  of  children's  courts,  the 
essence  of  which  is  a  combination  of  fatherly  and 
judicial  function  exerted  on  the  juvenile  and  on 
his  home.  The  best  examples  of  children's 
courts  revealed  the  same  truth  that  the  other 
plan  had  discovered,  namely,  the  necessity  of 
strong  influence  exerted  on  the  child  in  his 
home.  And  the  fact  that  wards  were  demanded 
in  sufficient  numbers  by  foster  homes  has  shown 
that  all  normal  offenders  can  be  so  located.  It 
is  therefore  reasonable  to  conclude  that  instead 
of  making  placing  out  a  department  of  an  insti- 


232  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

tution  the  reverse  should  be  done,  that  is,  the 
institution  should  be  made  a  department  of 
placing  out,  so  that  the  abnormal  offenders  alone 
should  be  permanently  handled  by  it. 

And  the  treatment  of  the  normal  delinquent 
should  be  the  influence  of  a  wholesome  person- 
ality exerted  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  home,  nat- 
ural or  foster. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

ALDEN,  L.  P.,  "  The  Shady  Side  of  Placing  out  Sys- 

tem." 
BARROWS,  S.  J.,          "  Children's    Courts     in    the    United 

States." 
"  "     "  "European    Prisons,"    Charities    and 

Commons,  Dec.  7,  1907. 

BOGUB,  E.  A.,  "  Influence  of  Arranging  Teeth,"  etc. 

"        "     "  "  Results   that   follow    Extraction   of 

Permanent  Teeth." 

BRACE,  C.  L.,  "  The  Cost  of  Punishment  and  Preven- 

tion." 

"  Bulletin  of  Iowa  Institutions,"  April,  1902. 
CADT,  "  The  Juvenile  Offender,"  in  Bulletin 

of  Iowa  Institutions,  1893,  p.  452. 
"  Charities,"  vol.  8,  pp.  433,  490. 
"  "     9,  p.  60. 

"  11,  p.  331. 
"  13,  p.  337. 

"  Charities  Review,"   vol.  10,  May,  1900. 
"Charity  (Jewish),"  January,  1905,  p.  126. 
41  Children's  Advocate,"  Nov.  9,  1903. 
"  Commons,  The,"  January,  1905. 
FERRI,  E.,  "  Criminal  Sociology." 

FORBES,  "  The  Jockers  and  the  Schools  They 

keep." 
(233) 


234  THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 

HOWARD  ASSOCIATION,      "  Juvenile  Offenders." 

"  Children  of  the  State . ' ' 

"  Lend  a  Hand,"  vol.  6,  p.  527. 

LINDSEY,  B.  B.,  "  The  Boy  and  the  Court,"  Chari- 

ties, Jan.  7,  1905. 

"          "  '"  "  My  Experience  with  Boys,"  in 

Ladies'  Home  Journal,   Octo- 
ber, 1906,  p.  37. 

"         "   "  "  The  Juvenile  Court  at  Denver," 

in  "Children's   Courts  in  the 
United  States." 

LOMBROSO,  C.,  "  L'uomo    Delinquante "     (parts 

translated). 

MADPATB,  DB.  L.,  "  Recherches  d'anthropologie 

criminelle  chez  1* enfant,"  etc. 

MILES,  B.  J.,  "  The  Delinquent  Boy.'* 

MORRISON,  "Juvenile  Offenders." 

"New  York  State  Reformatory  at  Elmira." 

"Outlook,  The,"  Feb.  24,  1906;  March  17,  1906. 

"  Papers  in  Penology,"  Elmira. 

"Prisoners'  Aid  Society  of  Canada,"    "The   Child  Prob- 
lem." 

RAUX,  "  En f ants  Coupable." 

REPORTS  OF  New  York  Children's  Court. 

"         "  "         "     Juvenile  Asylum. 

"         "  Elmira  Reformatory. 

"         "  Newark  City  Home 

"         "  Jamesburg  State  School. 

New  York  House  of  Refuge. 

"         "  Rahway  Reformatory. 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOB.  235 

REPORTS  OF  "A   Joint    Special    Committee," 

Hartford,  1863. 

"         »  Essex  County  Probation  Officer. 

"         "  "  Theophile  Roussel,"  etc. 

Revue  Penetentiare,  vol.  14,  p.  300 ;    vol.  16,  pp.  776  and 
972;  vol.  19,  p.  93. 

SPENCE,  C.  H.,  "  Children  of  the  State  in  Austra- 

lia," in  Children's   Advocate, 
Nov.  9,  1893. 

SPERANZA,  G.,  "  Criminality  in  Children." 

VON  WOLFRING,  LTDIA,    lt  Kindermisshandlungen,"  etc., 
Wien,  1902. 

WATLAND,  F.   (DEAN),       "  The  Duty  of   the    State  to  Its 
Neglected  Children." 

WILLIAMS,  MORNAY,  4<  The  Street  Boy." 


INDEX. 


Abnormality,  physical,  in  criminals, 

2-5.    See  Stigmata  of  crime. 
Absorption,  the  social  law  of,  125, 

126. 

Addams,  Jane,  cited,  166. 
Adenoids,  results  of  removal  of,  210. 
Affection,  absence  of,  in  savages,  93, 

94. 
Age   of   delinquents,    statistics    of, 

150-152. 
Ambidexterity  as  a  stigma  of  crime, 

58. 
Aristotle  and  the  stigmata  of  crime, 

59. 
Associates,  delinquency  caused  by 

bad, 160. 
Australia,  methods  in,  for  treating 

delinquents,  219,  220. 

Babies  in  institutions,  195, 196. 
Baker,  Sir  Samuel,  quoted,  93,  94. 
Barrows,  Samuel,  cited,  115,  200, 227. 
Baths,  public  and  school,  216. 
Beard,  thin,  as  stigma  of  crime,  63, 

76  ff. 
Begging  as  cause  of    delinquency, 

119, 120. 

Belgium,  prisons  in,  115. 
Beyers,  classification  of  delinquents 

by,  50. 
"  Blood  ears  "  as  stigmata  of  crime, 

82. 
Bogue,  E.  A.,  study  of  imperfect 

dentition  by,  207,  208. 
Booth,  General,  cited,  139. 


Borderlanders,  the  class  called,  125, 

126. 
Born  criminals,  so-called,  2-5,  146, 

147.     See  Natural  criminals. 
"  Branding"  of  criminals,  197. 
Bridewell,  data  from,  41. 
Brockway,   former  Superintendent, 

157. 
Buddhism  and  the  stigmata  theory, 

55,  56. 

Cady,  cited,  41, 150, 151, 160, 161, 216. 

Caldwell,  N.  J.,  penitentiary,  data 
furnished  from,  3,  4,  9,  67,  116, 
118, 149. 

Camorra,  the,  13. 

Centralization  of  population  and  de- 
linquency, 37  ff.,  131-133. 

Charbonari,  the,  13. 

Cheek  bones,  large,  as  stigmata  of 
crime,  63, 68, 76  ff .,  147 ;  proposed 
treatment  of,  205-208. 

Child  labor,  134-136. 

Children,  cases  of  homes  with  too 
many,  179, 180. 

Children's  court,  evolution  and  bene- 
fits of,  226  ff. 

Chiu,  projecting,  as  stigma  of  crime, 
63. 

Cigarette-smoking  as  cause  of  de- 
linquency, 157. 

Cities,  percentage  of  delinquents 
from,  37  ff.,  131,  132. 

Clark,  Miss  Emily,  work  of,  220. 

Classes,  social,  and  delinquency,  11. 


(237) 


238 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


Climate,  effect  of,  on  delinquency, 

106. 
Clothes  for  children  seeking  employ. 

ment,  134. 
Cocaine  fiends,  159. 
Competition,    effect    of,    on    delin- 
quency, 128-130. 
Confucianism  and  stigmata  of  crime 

theory,  56. 

Consumers'  leagues,  216,  217. 
Cottage  plan    for    institutions,  193, 

197, 198. 
Cotton  factories,  children  employed 

in,  136. 
Country,  percentage  of  delinquents 

from,  37  ff.,  131, 132. 
Crap  shooting,  166. 
Crises,  delinquency  resulting  from, 

127, 128. 

Cronin,  Dr.,  work  of,  210. 
Curfew  laws,  215,  216. 

Davitt,  Michael,  quoted  on  English 
prisons,  115. 

Deformations  as  cause  of  delin- 
quency, 152, 153.  See  Stigmata. 

Degeneracy,  correspondence  of  stig- 
mata of,  and  stigmata  of  crime, 
69. 

Degenerates,  delinquents  classed  as, 
22. 

Delinquencies,  juvenile,  nature  of, 
20  ff. 

Delinquency,  geographical  causes  of, 
103-106;  social  causes,  106-126; 
economic  causes,  126-140;  dis- 
positional  causes,  140-147 ;  physi- 
ological causes,  147-154;  indi- 
vidual causes,  154-167;  family 
causes,  167-183;  history  of  treat- 
ment of  juvenile,  184  ff . 

Dentition,  defective,  as  stigma  of 
crime,  8,  56,  63,  68,  69;  found 


among  insane  patients  not  crimi- 
nals, 79;  physical  effect  on  pos- 
sessor, 206;  scientific  study  of, 
and  conclusions,  207-209. 

Disease  and  delinquency,  153. 

Dishonesty  among  juveniles,  165,166. 

Drugs  and  delinquency,  159. 

Ears,  outstanding,  as  stigmata  of 
crime,  4,  8,  63,  66;  found  also 
among  the  insane,  76  ff. 

Economic  causes  of  delinquency,  126- 
140. 

Education,  defective,  as  cause  of  de- 
linquency, 122-124,  141,  142. 

Ellis,  cited,  114,  158, 161, 166. 

Elmira  Reformatory,  data  obtained 
from,  2,  3,  9, 11, 14,  15, 19,  36, 41, 
44,  70,  92;  in  danger  from  pol- 
itics, 121;  age  of  inmates,  150; 
elaboration  of  educational  and 
industrial  idea  at,  194;  percent- 
age of  success  and  of  failure  at, 
202. 

Employment  of  children,  statistics 
of,  134-136. 

England,  social  conditions  and  de- 
linquency in,  11-13;  Reform 
School  data  from,  17 ;  prisons  in, 
115 ;  vagrancy  in,  139 ;  percentage 
of  reform  of  juvenile  delinquents 
in,  201 ;  boarding  out  of  children 
in,  220. 

Environment,  and  crime,  23,  24,  27, 
28;  effect  of  geographical,  103- 
106. 

Evolution,  theory  of,  applied  to  stig- 
mata of  crime,  60,  61. 

Extinction,  the  social  law  of,  125, 
126. 

Extirpation  of  criminals,  211-213. 

Factory  employment  of  children, 
136. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


239 


Family  causes  of  delinquency,  167- 
183. 

Feet,  abnormal,  as  stigmata  of  crime, 
63,  83. 

Ferri,  E.,  cited,  10,  13,  63,  89,  202. 

Ferriani,  cited,  24,  37. 

Feuds,  geographical  cause  for,  104, 
105. 

Fink,  cited,  93. 

Fitzgerald,  E.  P.,  cited,  17, 43. 

Foster  homes  for  children,  219  ff.; 
advantages  and  defects  of,  222- 
224. 

Fowke,  F.,  cited,  193. 

France,  social  conditions  and  delin- 
quency in,  12;  Reform  School 
data  from,  17 ;  nature  of  juvenile 
delinquencies  in,  22, 23 ;  a  classifi- 
cation of  juvenile  delinquents 
m,  50,  51;  absence  of  stigmata 
among  delinquents  of,  72,  73; 
the  prisons  of,  114, 115. 

Galen  and  the  study  of  stigmata,  59, 

60. 

Gambling  among  delinquents,  166. 
Gangs,  formation  of  juvenile,  132; 

causes  of,  142, 143. 
Garafalo,  on  the  stigmata  of  crime, 

62,  64. 

Gauthier,  Emile,  quoted,  114, 115. 
George  Junior  Republic,  data  from, 

70 ;  percentage  of  reform  at,  201 . 
George  Junior  Republics,  nature  of, 

as  institutions,  193. 
Germany,  vagrancy  in,  139;  Rauhe 

Hans    plan    for    treating   delin- 
quents, 219,  221. 
Gesticulation,  frequent,  as  stigma  of 

crime,  63;  found  also  among  the 

insane,  76  ff. 

Great  Britain,  vagrancy  in,  139. 
Greek  sources  of  stigmata  of  crime 

theory,  58-60. 


Habits,  personal,  and  delinquency, 
154-167. 

Hair,  thick  head,  as  stigma  of  crime, 
63,  68 ;  found  among  the  insane, 
76. 

Hardy,  Spense,  quoted,  55,  56. 

Hartford,  data  from,  41. 

Head  bones,  deficient,  physical  effect 
of,  on  owner,  206. 

Hebrew  Shelter  Refuge,  data  from, 
42 

Hebrew  sources  of  stigmata  of  crime 
theory,  57,  58. 

Heredity,  influence  of,  29, 153,  154. 

Home,  delinquency  due  to  deficien- 
cies in,  33, 167  ff .,  175-182 ;  failure 
of  the  State  to  furnish  a,  170. 

Homes,  placing  out  children  in  fos- 
ter, 219  ff. ;  advantages  and  de- 
fects of  plan,  222  ff. 

Homer  and  the  stigmata  of  crime 
theory,  58. 

House  of  Refuge,  New  York,  data 
from,  4,  9,  17,  18,  22,  31,  37,  41, 
44,  70,  74, 133;  character  of  train- 
ing at,  193. 

Hrdlicka,  quoted,  5,  71,  72. 

Hypnotism,  criminal  offences  due  to, 
153. 


Idleness,  delinquents    through,    22, 

142, 162  ff . 
Illinois  Penitentiary,  data  obtained 

from,  150. 
Immaturity  as  cause  of  delinquency, 

143, 144. 
Immigration,  delinquency  factors  in, 

124,  125, 170. 
Imprisonment,  definite  term  system 

of,  117, 118. 
Inbreeding,     degeneracy     resulting 

from,  12. 
Indeterminate  sentence,  the,  193, 194. 


240 


THE  YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


Industrial  training  for  delinquents, 
193. 

Insane,  stigmata  of  crime  found 
among  the,  75  ff. ;  question  of 
classing  delinquents  among,  84 
ff . ;  at  poor  farms,  119. 

Insanity,  among  juvenile  delin- 
quents, 27,  28,  29;  and  crime, 
84  ff.;  in  subtle  forms  in  chil- 
dren, 145, 148. 

Insensibility  to  pain,  of  insane,  93; 
of  children,  96. 

Institution,  effects  of  life  in,  194- 
204;  the  proper  sphere  of  the, 
204  ff. 

Institutions,  improvement  in,  189; 
types  of,  192  ff . 

Institutionalization  of  children,  196. 

Intellect,  dependence  of  moral  sense 
on,  15,  16. 

Intemperance  of  parents,  and  juve- 
nile delinquency,  42,  48. 

Intoxication  among  juveniles,  154; 
extent  of  responsibility  of,  for 
crime,  155, 156. 

Ireland,  boarding-out  method  for 
children  in,  220. 

Italians,  peculiar  effect  of  atavism 
on,  69,  70. 

Italian  School,  the,  4,  8,  13,  14,  53; 
claims  of,  respecting  detection 
of  crime  by  stigmata,  62,  63; 
conclusions  regarding  theory  of, 
98,  99;  classification  of  offenders 
by,  202,  203. 

Italy,  social  conditions  and  delin- 
quency in,  13;  prisons  of,  115. 

Jails  for  juveniles,  defects  of,  112- 

114. 
Jamesburg  State  Home,  data  from, 

21,  41. 
Jaws,    large    and    prognathous,    as 


stigmata  of  crime,  4,  76  ff . ;  cure 

of,  209. 

Jewish  delinquents,  22. 
Johnson,  Grace,  cited,  121. 
Jones,  Israel,  133. 
Juke  family,  the,  153, 154. 

Keel-shaped  head  as  stigma  of  crime, 
4,  58,  59.  See  Stigmata. 

Kelly,  Miss,  on  causes  of  delin- 
quency, 135. 

Kelso,  J.  J.,  cited,  160, 163. 

Krafft-Ebbing,  88, 106, 145-146. 

Krapotkine,  on  French  prisons,  114. 

Left-handedness  as  a  stigma  of  crime, 
58. 

Lindsey,  Judge,  cited,  20, 21, 32, 151 ; 
percentage  of  delinquents  cured 
by,  28, 199;  on  jails  for  children, 
114 ;  has  factor  of  bad  politics  to 
contend  with,  121;  quoted  on 
the  children's  court,  226,  227; 
parents,  guardians,  and  other 
adult  agents  held  responsible  by 
229. 

Literature,  delinquency  caused  by 
bad,  160, 161. 

Loafing  as  source  of  delinquency, 
162-164. 

Lombroso,  C.,  10,  13,  14,  32,  56,  61, 
63,  68,  69,  202. 

Love,  absence  of,  in  savages,  93,  94. 

Machines,  effect  of  introduction  of, 
on  delinquency,  129  ff . 

Maffia,  the,  13,  109. 

Maldevelopment,  physical,  in  crim- 
inals, 2-5.  See  Stigmata. 

Mana  Nigra,  the,  13, 109. 

Massachusetts  plan,  percentage  of 
reform  under,  201. 

Maudsley,  cited,  145, 153,  206. 

Maupate,  L.,  quoted,  72,  73. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


241 


Mayer,  Julius  M.,  classification  of 

delinquents  by,  50. 
Michigan,  foster  homes  for  children 

in,  221. 
Middletown  State  Insane  Asylum, 

data  from,  76  ff. 

Military  school  treatment  of  delin- 
quents, 193. 
Military  stations,  evil  effects  of,  105, 

106. 
Minnesota,  placing  out  of  children 

in,  221. 
Mitchellville  Reform  School,  data, 

17,43. 
Mohammedanism    and    stigmata  of 

crime  theory,  56,  57. 
Montclair  School  for  Backwards,  7, 

38. 

Moonshining,  103, 104. 
Moral  insensibility,  of  criminals,  15, 

16,  90  ff . ;  of  the  insane,  90  ff . ; 

of  savages,  93-95;   of  children, 

95,  96, 144,  145. 
Morbidity  resulting  in  delinquency, 

145. 

Morrison,  cited,  7, 17,  34,  40,  42, 149. 
Murder,  cases  of,  by  juveniles,  26,  27. 
Murderers,  inferior  heads  of,  63,  64. 

Natural  criminals,  2-5, 146, 147 ;  stig- 
mata of,  4,  8,  54-75,  205-209; 
question  of  insanity  of,  97-99; 
suitability  of  institution  life  for, 
204  ff.;  extirpation  suggested 
for,  211-214. 

Naval  stations,  evil  effects  of,  105, 
106. 

Nerves,  case  of  abnormal,  28,  29. 

New  York  Juvenile  Asylum,  data 
obtained  from,  5,  6,  7,  9,  18,  31, 
33,  37,  42,  45,  118,  125,  133,  134, 
135,157,  160,  166;  delinquencies 
causing  commitment  to,  21 ;  plac- 
ing-out  department  of,  221. 


Nose,  the  criminal's,  63,  65 ;  scientific 
treatment  of,  209. 

Nostril,  high,  as  a  stigma  of  degen- 
eracy, 56;  the  almond-shaped, 

82,  83. 

Offences,  nature  of  juvenile,  20  ff. 
Ohio,  treatment  of  delinquents  in, 

222. 
Orphanage  and  delinquency,  40-42. 

Palates,  defective,  as  stigmata  of 
crime,  4,  8,  63,  65,  66;  found 
among  insane  patients  not  crimi- 
nals, 79;  study  of  and  cure  of, 
209. 

Parents  of  juvenile  delinquents,  33 
ff.,  167  ff.;  effect  of  imprison- 
ment of,  on  children,  119. 

Parks,  as  preventive  scheme,  215. 

Pennsylvania,  placing  out  of  children 
in,  222. 

Phansegars,  the,  94. 

Philanthropy  as  cause  of  delin- 
quency, 119, 120. 

Physiological  causes  of  delinquency, 
147-154. 

Physique  of  criminals,  2  ff.  See 
Stigmata. 

Placing-out  methods  for  treating  de- 
linquents, 219  ff. ;  advantages 
and  defects  of,  222-224. 

Playgrounds,  215. 

Pleasure  resorts,  delinquency  caused 
by,  105. 

Plotting  as  a  test  of  crime  and  of 
insanity,  89  ff. 

Police  courts,  defects  of,  109-112. 

Politics,  effect  of,  on  increase  of  de- 
linquency, 121,  122. 

Poor  farms,  119. 

Population,  centralization  of,  and 
growth  of  delinquency,  37,  131- 
133. 


242 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


Poverty  as  cause  of  delinquency,  33, 
47,  48,  133  ff . 

Premeditation  as  a  test  of  crime  and 
of  insanity,  89  ff. 

Prins,  Adolphe,  cited,  115. 

Prisons,  influence  of,  114-117;  im- 
provement in  construction  of, 
189  ff. 

Prostitutes,  age  of,  at  Blackwell's 
Island,  23;  earnings  of,  35;  num- 
ber of,  in  New  York  City,  109. 

Prostitution,  causes  of,  23-25,  35,  36; 
in  homes,  46. 

Puberty,  age  of,  as  connected  with 
delinquency,  148,  149. 

Rah  way  Reformatory,  data  from,  4, 
9, 10,  70,  74,  201. 

Rauhe  Haus  plan  for  delinquents, 
219,  221. 

Raux,  cited,  17,  25,  27,  31,  32,  40,  42, 
44,  150,  200. 

Reading,  delinquency  resulting  from 
wrong,  160, 161. 

Reform,  percentage  of,  among  juve- 
nile delinquents,  199  ff . 

Reformatories,  effect  of,  120.  See 
Institution. 

Religions  of  savages,  94,  95. 

Richter,  Dr.,  88. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  cited,  94. 

Roussel,  Th6ophile,  quoted,  228, 229. 

Russia,  prisons  of,  114. 

Saloons,  connection  of,  with  crime, 
156, 157. 

Banger,  Dr.,  23,  24,  34-36. 

Schools,  defects  in,  causing  delin- 
quency, 122-124,  141,  142. 

Schroff,  cited,  163. 

Scotland,  boarding  out  of  children 
in,  220. 

Sentence,  the  definite  term  system, 


117, 118;  the  indeterminate,  193, 
194. 

Sex,  influence  of,  on  delinquency, 
149, 150. 

Sexual  habits,  influence  of,  159. 

Skull,  the  criminal's,  63. 

Social  causes  of  delinquency,  106- 
126. 

Social  secretaries,  216,  217. 

Society,  classes  of,  and  delinquency, 
11. 

Somnambulism,  criminal  offences 
caused  by,  153. 

Spain,  prisons  of,  114. 

Spence,  Miss  C.  H.,  cited,  220. 

Speranza,  GK,  quoted,  92, 163. 

Sterilization  of  natural  criminals, 
213,  214. 

Stigmata  of  crime,  4,  8;  Italian 
School's  theory,  54;  historical 
sources  of  theory,  55-62;  enu- 
meration of,  63-65;  practical 
tests  of  theory,  65  ff.;  theory 
applies  to  Italians  but  not  to 
other  races,  69  ff. ;  theory  is  not 
accurate,  74,  75;  found  among 
insane  who  were  not  criminals, 
75  ff. ;  conclusions  concerning 
theory,  98,  99 ;  physical  effect  on 
possessors  of,  205-207 ;  scientific 
medical  study  of,  and  conclu- 
sions, 207-209. 

Street-cleaning  by  juveniles,  216. 

Street  occupations  of  children,  135. 

Sweeney,  Judge,  quoted,  197. 

Tarnowskaia,  Dr.,  cited,  64. 

Teeth,  defective,  among  stigmata  of 
crime,  8,  56,  63,  68,  69,  79,  206; 
study  of,  and  results,  207-209. 

Temperature,  effect  of,  on  delin- 
quency, 106. 

Theatres,  cheap,  delinquency  due 
to,  161,  162. 


THE   YOUNG  MALEFACTOR. 


243 


Thieves,  stigmata  of,  63-65. 
Tobacco  and  delinquency,  157-159. 
Trades  unions  and  delinquency,  130, 

131. 
Tramps,  causes  and  statistics  of,  138- 

140. 
Truancy,  statistics  of,  22 ;  causes  of, 

122-124, 141, 142;  gangs  resulting 

from,  142. 
Tubercle,  the  prominent  Darwinian, 

as  stigma  of  crime,  63,  82,  83. 

Vagrancy,  statistics  of,  139, 140. 

Van  Vorst,  Mrs.  John,  cited,  135, 
136. 

Victoria,  Australia,  treatment  of  de- 
linquents in,  219. 

Village  plan  for  institutions,  193, 197, 
198. 

Von  Wolfring,  Lydia,  cited,  43. 


Wards,  juvenile,  demand  for,  222. 

Waring,  J.  E.,  cited,  216. 

Warner,  cited,  139, 140. 

Warren,  Count  de,  94. 

Washington,  D.C.,  prison  data,  17. 

Waukesha  Reformatory  data,  41, 
161. 

Wayland,  Francis,  quoted,  45,  46. 

Weathersfield  Prison  data,  67. 

Wight,  Commissioner,  cited,  108, 
113. 

Willard,  D.,  cited,  216. 

Williams,  Mornay,  classification  of 
delinquents  by,  50;  on  street 
occupations  as  source  of  delin- 
quency, 135. 

Wrinkles,  facial,  as  stigmata  of 
crime,  63;  found  also  among  in- 
sane, 78. 


APPENDIX 


I.     Malformed   Heads  of   Insane  Females. 


II.     Peculiarities  in  the   Insane:   Abnormal   Hair  on  Male   Faces. 


I.     Peculiarities  in  the  Insane  :  Abnormal  Hair  on  Female  Faces. 


IV.     Abnormal   Facial  Wrinkles  of  Insane  Females. 


.c 
hi) 


IX.     Palates  of  Sane  and   Insane  Patients,  not  Criminal. 
(Only  the  three  on  lowest  row  are  from  Sane  Patients.) 


X.     Peculiarities  in  the  Insane  :    Spottedness  and   Extra  Toes. 


XI.     Peculiarities  in  Paupers,  not  Insane  or  Criminal:  Flopping  Ears. 


XII.     The  Under-developed  Face  of  a  Child,  before  Treatment. 


XIII.     the  Under-developed   Face  of  a  Child,  after  (Unfinished)  Treatment. 


14  DAY  USE 

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